View source for Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde

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{{SummaryItem
|link=Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde
|subject=Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde as a polyandrous wife of Joseph Smith
|summary=Marinda is a known wife of Joseph.
}}
 

{{SummaryItem
|link=Did_Joseph_have_lustful_motives_for_practicing_polygamy%3F#Marinda_Nancy_Johnson
|subject=Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde and her sealing to Joseph
|summary=Was Joseph's marriage to Nancy driven by lustful motives?
}}

{{SummaryItem
|link=Joseph_Smith_and_children_through_plural_marriage#Orson_W._Hyde_and_Frank_Henry_Hyde
|subject=Very unlikely to have had child(ren) fathered by Joseph
|summary=One child's death certificate rules Joseph out as the father; the other has chronology problems which suggest that Joseph is not the father.
}}
 
{{SummaryItem
|link=Joseph_Smith_and_children_through_plural_marriage#Did_Prescindia_Buell_.28or_Sarah_Pratt.2C_or_Mrs._Hyde.29_not_know_who_was_the_father_of_her_son.3F
|subject=Did Mrs. Hyde not know whether Orson or Joseph fathered her child?
|summary=Paternity uncertainty is unlikely in this case.
}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=Did_Joseph_Smith_send_men_on_missions_in_order_to_steal_their_wives%3F
|subject=Did Joseph send men on missions to marry their wives?
|summary=There is only a single case of Joseph being sealed to a woman while their husband was away.
}}

{{SummaryItem
|link=Did_Joseph_Smith_send_men_on_missions_in_order_to_steal_their_wives%3F#Was_Apostle_Orson_Hyde_sent_on_a_mission_to_dedicate_Israel_so_that_Joseph_Smith_could_secretly_marry_his_wife.2C_Marinda_Hyde.2C_while_he_was_away.3F
|subject=Did Joseph send Orson Hyde on a mission to Israel to steal his wife?
|summary=There's no evidence this was a tactic of Joseph's, and in this case the timeline makes it doubly implausible.
}}

=Was Apostle Orson Hyde sent on a mission to dedicate Israel so that Joseph Smith could secretly marry his wife, Marinda Hyde, while he was away?=
==Orson was involved briefly with apostasy at Far West in the fall of 1838, but had returned to the Church by March 1839==

Marinda Nancy Johnson married future apostle Orson Hyde on 4 September 1834.  He was involved briefly with apostasy at Far West in the fall of 1838, but had returned to the Church by March 1839 following a dramatic vision in which he saw the consequence of continued rebellion. <ref>{{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=234}}</ref>

Marinda was sealed to Joseph either in April 1842, while Orson was on a mission, or in May 1843, after Orson had returned.  Since there are two conflicting sources, there are two alternatives for the sealing date.  The later date comes from Miranda's own affidavit and the earlier date comes from one of Joseph's scribes, Thomas Bullock<ref>{{Book:Hales:Joseph Smith's Polygamy 1|273-274}}</ref>.  Only antagonistic accounts of this sealing exist. <ref>{{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=238–239}}</ref>  Of the four reports, two claim that Orson was aware of the sealing, and two claim that he was not.

==If the earlier sealing date is correct, Orson had been on his mission for about a year before the sealing==

It is of note that Orson had been on his mission for about a year before the sealing if the earlier sealing date is correct--he departed on 15 April 1840, and would return 7 December 1842.  Thus, even with the earliest sealing date, Orson had been gone for nearly two years prior to Joseph's sealing to Nancy.

This long delay does not fit well with the claim that a sexually-aggressive Joseph simply wanted his male rivals out of the way.

==The Hydes divorced in 1870, but Marinda was sealed to Orson following Joseph's death==
The Hydes were to divorce in 1870: "The precise reasons for the divorce are not known, but it appears that Orson was giving most of his attention to his younger wives at this time." <ref>{{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=230–243}}</ref>

Unique to the Hyde's marriage is the fact that Marinda was sealed to Orson following Joseph's death.  All of the Prophet's other polyandrous wives were posthumously sealed to Joseph by proxy. <ref>{{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=240–242}}</ref>

==Marinda's children Orson W. Hyde and Frank Henry Hyde==

Two of Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde's children have been suggested as possible children.  The first, Orson, died in infancy, making DNA testing impossible.  Compton notes, however, that "Marinda had no children while Orson was on his mission to Jerusalem, then became pregnant soon after Orson returned home.  (He arrived in Nauvoo on December 7, 1842, and Marinda bore Orson Washington Hyde on November 9, 1843),"<ref>{{Book:Compton:Brodie on JS Plural Wives/Short|pages=165}}</ref> putting the conception date around 16 February 1843.  

Frank Hyde's birth date is unclear; he was born on 23 January in either 1845 or 1846.<ref>{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows/Short|pages=345, 464}}  gives his birth as 1845, though there is no footnote indicating her source.  Frank's death certificate lists his birth in 1846}}  Compton follows the date of 1846, citing Howard H. Barron, Orson Hyde: Missionary-Apostle-Colonizer (Salt Lake City: Horizon, 1977), 134 and Ancestral File.</ref>  This would place his conception around 2 May, of either 1844 or 1845.  In the former case, Frank was conceived less than two months prior to Joseph's martyrdom.  Orson Hyde left for Washington, D.C., around 4 April 1844,<ref>{{Book:Smith:HC|pages=286|vol=6}} Times and Seasons 5 (15 September 1844): 651}}</ref> and did not return until 6 August 1844, making Joseph's paternity more likely than Orson's if the earlier birth date is correct.<ref>{{Book:Jenson:LDS Church Chronology|date=6 August 1844}}.</ref> The key source for this claim is Fawn Brodie, who includes no footnote or reference.  Given Brodie's tendency to misread evidence on potential children, this claim should be approached with caution.

Frank's death certificate lists Orson Hyde as the father, however, and places his birth in 1846, which would require conception nearly a year after Joseph's death.<ref>Frank H. Hyde, State of Utah--Death Certificate, State Board of Health File No. 967300}} Online at <http://wiki.hanksplace.net/index.php/Image:FrankHHyde.jpg></ref>  A child by Joseph would have brought prestige to the family and Church, and Orson and Nancy had divorced long before Frank Henry's death.<ref>{{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=249}}</ref> It seems unlikely, therefore, that Orson would be credited with paternity over Joseph if any doubt existed.  Without further data, Brodie's dating should probably be regarded as an error, ruling out Joseph as a possible father.

=What did Orson Hyde, the husband of Marinda Nancy Johnson, know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?=
==There are contradictory accounts which make it impossible to know for certain whether or not Orson knew of and consented to Marinda's sealing for eternity to Joseph==

Marinda Nancy Johnson was married to Orson Hyde. There are contradictory accounts which make it impossible to know for certain whether or not Orson knew of and consented to Marinda's sealing for eternity to Joseph. However, according to Hales, "If the 1842 date for the sealing between Joseph and Marinda marriage is correct, then Joseph may have been sealed to Marinda in an "eternity only" sealing without Orson Hyde’s knowledge." Yet he also notes that "John D. Lee remembered that Orson gave his permission: 'Hyde’s wife, with his consent, was sealed to Joseph for an eternal state.'" <ref>John D. Lee, ''Mormonism Unveiled'', or, The Life and Confessions of the Late Mormon Bishop, John D. Lee and W. W. Bishop, eds. (St. Louis: Byron, Brand, 1877), 147. Lee added "but I do not assert the fact."</ref>

==There are two sealing dates for Joseph to Marinda - one during a period of one to two years after Hyde left on his mission, and one after he had already returned==

The popular story among critics is that Joseph sent Orson away on his mission so that he could quickly marry his wife Marinda. However, the first sealing date shows that Joseph was sealed to Marinda for eternity one to two years after Hyde had left on his mission, so there was nothing "quick" about it. Furthermore, the evidence indicates that this was an "eternity only" sealing typical of Joseph's other "polyandrous" marriages involving other men's wives. No children are known to have conceived during this time. However, upon Hyde's return, not only did he father children by Marinda, but he also quickly asked Joseph to seal him in a new polygamous marriage of his own.

==Todd Compton: "It is striking that Marinda had no children while Orson was on his mission to Jerusalem, then became pregnant soon after Orson returned home"==

Fawn Brodie speculated that Mrs. Orson Hyde’s sons Orson and Frank "could have been Joseph’s sons." <ref>Fawn Brodie, ''No Man Knows My History'', 301, 345, 465</ref> Orson Washington Hyde, born November 9, 1843, died as an infant and therefore had no descendants. DNA testing cannot help determine paternity. 

Brian Hales notes the following regarding the timeline,
<blockquote>
The timeline shows that Apostle Orson Hyde, Marinda’s legal husband, served a mission to Palestine from the spring of 1840 to December 7, 1842. Weeks after his return, Marinda became pregnant with Orson Washington Hyde (conception approximately February 16, 1843) who was born on November 9, 1843. Several authors alleged Joseph Smith practiced sexual polyandry with some of his plural wives including Marinda, despite a mountain of contradictory evidences <ref>Brian Hales: "See also discussion regarding John Bowes Quoting William Arrowsmith Regarding Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde in Brian C. Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: History and Theology, 3 vols. (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2013), 1:314–16."</ref>
However, no evidence has been found to connect Joseph Smith with this child. Todd Compton observes: "It is striking that Marinda had no children while Orson was on his mission to Jerusalem, then became pregnant soon after Orson returned home." <ref>Todd Compton, "Fawn Brodie on Joseph Smith’s Plural Wives and Polygamy: A Critical View," in Reconsidering No Man Knows My History: Fawn M. Brodie and Joseph Smith in Retrospect, ed. Newell G. Bringhurst (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1996), 165.</ref>
They also allege that a second son, Frank Henry Hyde, was father by Joseph Smith under the assumption that he was born January 23, 1845 (conception approximately May 2, 1844). <ref>See Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History, 345.</ref>
However, his birth certificate and an obituary in the The Ogden Standard, June 29, 1908, "Frank H. Hyde Dies Suddenly," both corroborate a January 23, 1846, birthdate (May 2, 1845, approximate conception). <ref>Brian Hales: "Birth certificate available at http://wiki.hanksplace.net/index.php/Image:FrankHHyde.jpg (accessed August 27, 2009). Thanks to Gregory L. Smith for identifying this. See also "Frank H. Hyde Dies Suddenly," ''The Ogden Standard'' (June 29, 1908), 5."</ref><ref name="halespolygamy_marinda">Brian Hales, ''Joseph Smith's Polygamy'' {{link|url=http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/marinda-nancy-johnson/}}</ref>
</blockquote>

[[File:Joseph smith and marinda hyde timeline.jpg|frame|center|600px|Timeline of the marital status of Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde. From the website Brian Hales, ''Joseph Smith's Polygamy'' {{link|url=http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/marinda-nancy-johnson/}}]]

Hales continues,
<blockquote>
If the 1842 date for the sealing between Joseph and Marinda marriage is correct, then Joseph may have been sealed to Marinda in an "eternity only" sealing without Orson Hyde’s knowledge. While such a sealing would not have affected her civil union with Orson, a late second-hand report from exposé author Ann Eliza Webb Young states:

<blockquote>
When Joseph Smith first taught polygamy, and gave the wives as well as the husbands opportunity to make new choice of life-partners, Mrs. Hyde, at that time a young and quite prepossessing woman, became one of the Prophet’s numerous fancies. . . . Hyde was away on a mission at the time, and when he returned, he, in turn, imbibed the teachings of polygamy also, and prepared to extend his kingdom indefinitely. In the mean time it was hinted to him that Smith had had his first wife sealed to himself in his absence, as a wife for eternity. Inconsistent as it may seem, Hyde was in a furious passion." <ref>Ann Eliza Webb Young, ''Wife Number 19, or, The Story of a Life in Bondage, Being a Complete Exposé of Mormonism, and Revealing Sorrows, Sacrifices and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy'' (Hartford: Dustin, Gilman, and Co., 1876), 325–26. </ref>
</blockquote>

However, John D. Lee remembered that Orson gave his permission: "Hyde’s wife, with his consent, was sealed to Joseph for an eternal state." <ref>John D. Lee, ''Mormonism Unveiled, or, The Life and Confessions of the Late Mormon Bishop'', John D. Lee and W. W. Bishop, eds. (St. Louis: Byron, Brand, 1877), 147. Lee added "but I do not assert the fact."</ref><ref name="halespolygamy_marinda">Brian Hales, ''Joseph Smith's Polygamy'' {{link|url=http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/marinda-nancy-johnson/}}</ref>
</blockquote>

==Hyde requested that Joseph perform his own plural marriage just a few weeks after returning from his mission==

Hales concludes,
<blockquote>
Whatever the sequence, Orson appealed to Joseph to perform his own plural marriage weeks after returning from his mission stating in 1869: "In the month of February or March, 1843, I was married to Miss Martha R. Browitt, by Joseph Smith, the martyred prophet, and by him she was sealed to me for time and all eternity in Nauvoo, Illinois." <ref>Affidavit of Orson Hyde, September 15, 1869, MS 3423, CHL; affidavit was copied into Joseph F. Smith Affidavit Books, 2:45; published in Joseph Fielding Smith, Blood Atonement and the Origin of Plural Marriage (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1905), 74.</ref>

The details of the relationship between Marinda and the Prophet will probably never be known. If Marinda had chosen Joseph as her eternal husband, she apparently changed her mind because she chose to be sealed to her legal husband Orson Hyde in the Nauvoo temple on January 11, 1846.

However, Marinda Nancy Johnson relocated to Salt Lake City in 1852 and later divorced Orson Hyde. She died in 1886, having kept the faith in the Church established by her eternal husband.<ref name="halespolygamy_marinda">Brian Hales, ''Joseph Smith's Polygamy'' {{link|url=http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/marinda-nancy-johnson/}}</ref>
</blockquote>

==The accounts of the sealing of Marinda to Joseph==

Much of what we know about the Hyde sealing is also contaminated by hostile, mutually contradictory accounts that contain some known false information.

{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:100%"
!width=10%|Author
!width=10%|Date
!width=30%|Claim
!width=50%|Comments
|-
| Sidney Rigdon<ref>J. GI SON DIVINE [Sidney Rigdon], "To the Sisters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," ''Latter Day Saint's Messenger and Advocate'' (Pittsburgh) 1/10 (15 March 1845): 154–158.</ref> ||1845||
*Orson unaware of marriage
*Orson refused to live with wife when he found out
||
Contrary to claim, Orson continued to live with Miranda and father children by her.
|-
| William Hall<ref>{{CriticalWork:Hall:Abominations of Mormonism/Full title|pages=113}}</ref> ||1852||
* Joseph demanded Miranda and all Orson's money to let him back in the Church
* "Many jokes were cracked at his [Hyde's] expense."
||
Very unlikely—no record of others mocking Hyde; Hall is unreliable on other marriages as well. <ref>{{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=239}}</ref>  Orson's return to the quorum was in June 1839, <ref> See {{Book:Smith:HC/Short|pages=345|vol=3}} {{Book:Roberts:CHC|pages=24–25n12|vol=2}} {{Book:Woodruff:Journal|vol=1|pages=340|date=25 June 1839}}</ref> putting Hall's account two years too early for marriage. <ref>See {{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=238}}</ref>
|-
| Ann Eliza Young<ref>{{CriticalWork:Young:Wife No. 19/Full title|pages=324&ndash;326}}</ref> ||1876||
* Orson did not know of marriage
* Angry when he learned of it
* Swore would not live with his wife; did so anyway.
||

Too young to have any first-hand knowledge of Nauvoo, her book's intent was clearly to titillate with stories of polygamous intrigue.  Claims that Brigham told Orson that she was only to be his wife for time, and Joseph's for eternity—but this is frankly false, since sealed to Orson in early 1846. <ref>{{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=243}}: "Marinda was sealed to Orson Hyde, not Smith, for time and eternity on January 11, 1846."</ref>  She also confuses the temporality, since she describes Hyde "in a furious passion," because "he thought it no harm for him to win the affection of another man's wife… but he did not propose having his rights interfered with even by the holy Prophet whose teachings he so implicitly followed" (326).  Yet, Orson did not begin practicing plural marriage until after he knew of Miranda's sealing to Joseph.
|-
| John D. Lee<ref>{{CriticalWork:Lee:Mormonism Unvailed/Full title|pages=147}}</ref> ||1877||
* "Report said that Hyde's wife, with his consent, was sealed to Joseph for an eternal state, but I do not assert the fact."
||Lee's work was published posthumously and may have been altered by anti-Mormon editor.
|-
|}

{{blankline}}{{HalesPluralWifeBiography|wife=Marinda Nancy Johnson|link=http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/marinda-nancy-johnson/}}{{blankline}}

{{Critical sources box:Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Plural wives/Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde/Circumstances of her plural marriage/CriticalSources}}{{blankline}}
 
{{HalesItem
|subject=Joseph Smith’s Pre-Nauvoo Reputation--Nancy Marinda Johnson
|link=http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/changes-in-may-1843/
|summary=}}
 
{{HalesItem
|subject=Marinda Nancy Johnson
|link=http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/marinda-nancy-johnson/
|summary=}}
 
{{HalesItem
|subject=Were There Other Polygamous Marriages Prior to Nauvoo?&mdash;Marinda Nancy Johnson
|link=http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/kirtland-polygamy/
|summary=}}
 
{{HalesItem
|subject=After Louisa Beaman, Joseph Smith Seeks Almost Exclusively "Eternity Only" Sealings
|link=http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/first-nauvoo-sealing/
|summary=}}

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[[Category:Letter to a CES Director]]
[[Category:MormonThink]]
[[Category:Questions]]
[[es:Pregunta: ¿Qué dijo el esposo de Marinda Nancy Johnson sabe acerca de su sellado a José Smith para la eternidad?]]
[[pt:Pergunta: O que Orson Hyde, marido de Marinda Nancy Johnson, sabia sobre seu selamento para a eternidade com Joseph Smith?]]
[[es:José Smith/Poligamia/Esposas plurales/Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde]]
[[pt:Joseph Smith/Poligamia/Esposas plurais/Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde]]