Helen Mar Kimball

28 August 1828–15 November 1896

Born 22 Aug. 1828 in Mendon, Monroe Co., New York.[1] Daughter of Heber C. Kimball and Vilate Murray.[2] Baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Chagrin River by Brigham Young, ca. 1837.[3]  Sealed to Joseph Smith, ca. 1843.[4] Married Horace Kimball Whitney, 4 Feb. 1846, in Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois; eleven children.[5] Participated in female spiritual gatherings during her time at Winter Quarters, unorganized U.S. territory (later in Omaha, Douglas Co., Nebraska), 1847.[6] Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley with the Heber C. Kimball pioneer company, arriving 24 Sept. 1848.[7] Visited and socialized with EBW.[8]  Wrote two books on plural marriage and many articles for the Woman’s Exponent.[9] Participated in the suffrage movement.[10] Second counselor in the Salt Lake Stake Relief Society, 1882–1895.[11] Died 15 Nov. 1896 in Salt Lake City.[12]

 

[1] Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970, Eighteenth Ward (Old), Part 1, 1907–1912, p. 29, section 2, Helen Mar K. Whitney, CR 375 8 (restricted access), images 18, 341/648, CHL. Heber Chase Kimball, Blessing to Helen Mar Kimball, p. 1, MS 350 3, CHL. “Family Tree, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 1 Nov. 2019), Helen Mar Kimball (KWJR-BZX). 

[2] Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970, Eighteenth Ward (Old), Part 1, 1907–1912, p. 29, section 2, Helen Mar K. Whitney, CR 375 8 (restricted access), image 341/648, CHL. Heber Chase Kimball, Blessing to Helen Mar Kimball, p. 1, MS 350 3, CHL. Heber C. Kimball Family History, vol. 1, part 1, pp. 12–13, images 261–287/554, CHL. Daniel Davis, Diaries, 1846–1892, pp. 90, 94, MS 1676, images 51, 53/117, CHL.   

[3] Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Autobiography, 30 Mar. 1881, p. 1, Helen M. Kimball Whitney Papers, 1881–1882, MS 744, image 3/5, CHL. Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret: A Book of Biographical Sketches (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham, 1884), 109–120.

[4] “Sealings and Adoptions of the Living, 1846–1857; Index, 1846–1857,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nauvoo Temple, vol. A, 1846–1857, p. 513, Joseph Smith Jr. and Helen Mar Kimball, 4 Feb. 1846, microfilm 183374 (restricted access), FHL. Heber C. Kimball Family History, vol. 1, part 1, pp. 5–6, images 261–287/554, CHL. 

[5] “Sealings and Adoptions of the Living, 1846–1857; Index, 1846–1857,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nauvoo Temple, vol. A, 1846–1857, p. 513, Horace Kimball Whitney and Helen Mar Kimball, 4 Feb. 1846, microfilm 183374 (restricted access), FHL. “Helen Mar Whitney,” Salt Lake Herald, 16 Nov. 1896, 8. “A Tender Tribute: Helen Mar Kimball Whitney,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Dec. 1896, 76–77.  

[6] Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells: An Intimate History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2017), 84.

[7] “Helen Mar Whitney,” Pioneer Database (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravels, accessed 8 Nov. 2019). Daniel Davis, Diaries, 1846–1892, pp. 90, 94, MS 1676, images 51, 53/117, CHL. 

[8] EBW, Diary, 28 Sept. 1887; 14 Feb. 1888; 27 Apr. 1892; 10 June 1892; 3 May 1894; 14 June 1895; 19 June 1896; 14 Nov. 1896.

[9] Helen Mar Whitney, Why We Practice Plural Marriage (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884). Helen Mar Whitney, Plural Marriage as Taught by the Prophet Joseph (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882).  “Helen Mar Whitney,” Salt Lake Herald, 16 Nov. 1896, 8. “A Tender Tribute: Helen Mar Kimball Whitney,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Dec. 1896, 76–77. “Life Incidents,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Aug. 1880, 42. “Scenes and Incidents at Winter Quarters,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Aug. 1886, 46. 

[10] “Who Signed That Petition,” Deseret News, 4 Feb. 1880, 10. Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, A Widow’s Tale: The 1884–1896 Diary of Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, vol. 6, Life Writings of Frontier Women, ed. Maureen Ursenbach Beecher (Logan: Utah State University Press, 2003), 322–323, 352, 378, 673.

[11] “Interesting Conference,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Mar. 1882, 157. “R. S. and P. A. Salt Lake Stake,” Woman’s Exponent, 5 Aug. 1895, 46. Salt Lake Stake, Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 10 Mar. 1882, LR 604 2 box 2 folder 2, CHL. 

[12] “Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1849–1949,” p. 41, line 1539 (1896), Helen Mar Whitney; Salt Lake County Management and Archives, Salt Lake City. “Helen Mar Whitney,” Salt Lake Herald, 16 Nov. 1896, 8. “A Tender Tribute: Helen Mar Kimball Whitney,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Dec. 1896, 76–77.