FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Plural wives/Mary Heron Snider
< Joseph Smith | Polygamy | Plural wives
FAIR Answers—back to home page
Mary Heron Snider
Summary: Mary Heron Snider's husband John died active and faithful in the Church. Further, he served a mission in England and was the first Mormon to preach there, served on the committee building the Nauvoo House, was appointed a "bodyguard" for Joseph's body following the martyrdom at Carthage. There is a one-sentence claim of sexual relations between her and Joseph by a son-in-law, Joseph E. Johnson. Mary and her husband "seem to have endured significant periods of estrangement after 1833, with no pregnancies after Mary turned twenty nine. Also, the couple's marriage was never sealed, though the option was available....without addition[al] documentation, reliable conclusions are unattainable." It may be that Snider's marriage to Joseph parallels the case of Sylvia Sessions Lyon, who was likely separated from her first husband prior to her plural marriage to Joseph.
Likely pseudopolyandrous wife
Joseph Smith's Polygamy: "Mary Heron Snider", by Brian C. Hales