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Helen Mar Kimball

Helen K. Whitney, Helen Mar Kimball Whitney

22 August 1828—15 November 1896

Emmeline B. Wells

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

The First Fifty Years of Relief Society

13 Born at Mendon, Monroe County, New York; daughter of Vilate Murray and Heber C. Kimball. 14 Baptized, 1836. 15 Later identified herself as a plural wife of Joseph Smith, married circa May 1843. 16 Married Horace Kimball Whitney, 1846; eleven children. 17 Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley, 1848. 18 Wrote two books on plural marriage and many articles for the Woman’s Exponent and Deseret News. 19 Died at Salt Lake City. 20 (See Document 4.28)

Footnotes

  1. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 6 Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells: An Intimate History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2017), 84.

  7. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 

  13. 13 E. B. W. [Emmeline B. Wells], “Helen Mar Whitney: Her Death—A Sketch of Her Personal History,” Deseret Evening News, Nov. 16, 1896, 2.

  14. 14 “Helen Mar Whitney,” 2. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org, accessed Jan. 2015), Helen Mar Kimball KWJR-BZX.

  15. 15 Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Autobiography, [1], in Helen M. Kimball Whitney papers, 1881–1882, CHL. Todd M. Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997), 490.

  16. 16 Whitney, Autobiography, [2]. “Helen Mar Kimball,” in Heber C. Kimball Family Association, Heber C. Kimball Family History ([n.p.]: Heber C. Kimball Family Association, 1992), 5.

  17. 17 “Helen Mar Whitney,” 2. “Helen Mar Kimball,” 12. “Family Tree,” database, Helen Mar Kimball and Horace Kimball Whitney KWJ5-QKT.

  18. 18 “Helen Mar Kimball Whitney,” Church History Biographical Database, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, available at https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/chd/landing, accessed Jan. 2015.

  19. 19 “Helen Mar Kimball,” 13. Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Plural Marriage as Taught by the Prophet Joseph: A Reply to Joseph Smith, Editor of the Lamoni (Iowa) “Herald” (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882); Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Why We Practice Plural Marriage (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1884).

  20. 20 “Helen Mar Whitney,” 2. “Utah Death Registers, 1847–1966,” p. 1 (1896), H. Mar. Whitney; database and images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com, accessed Jan. 2015); citing series 21866, from Utah Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Utah State Archives and Records Service, Salt Lake City, UT.