Nancy Maria Winchester

FAIR Answers—back to home page

Nancy Maria Winchester

Summary: We know little about this marriage, save that it occurred.

Why was Joseph sealed to young women?

Summary: Critics argue that Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages to young women are evidence that he was immoral, perhaps even a pedophile.

Availability for testimony in 1892 Temple Lot case

Summary: Nine plural wives were living in 1892. Whether they were called as witnesses seems to have depended upon whether they could testify to conjugality in the plural marriages.

See also Brian Hales' discussion

Joseph Smith’s Sealings to Young Wives: FAQ

Joseph Smith was sealed to ten women under that age of twenty. Four were nineteen, three were seventeen, one was sixteen, and two were fourteen. Marriages for young women sixteen and older were not uncommon in the mid-nineteenth century, but younger marriages were less common. Sexual relations are documented in several of the plural marriages between Joseph and the older seven plural wives, but there is no documentation supporting that the plural sealings to the two fourteen-year-old wives were consummated.

See Biography:

A biography of Nancy Maria Winchester may be viewed on Brian and Laura Hales' website "josephsmithspolygamy.org".