| Date | Event |
| 1805, Dec | Joseph Smith is born |
| 1820, Mar | Joseph Smith experiences the First Vision |
| 1823, Sep | Joseph Smith is visited by the Angel Moroni |
| 1827, Jan | Joseph Smith marries Emma Hale |
| 1827, Sep | Joseph Smith retrieves the Golden Plates |
| 1828, Jun | Emma Hale [Smith] gives birth to Alvin Smith, who dies hours later. Joseph Smith receives word that Martin Harris lost 116 manuscript pages of the Book of Mormon |
| 1830, Mar | The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, NY |
| 1830, Apr | Joseph Smith, Jr., organizes the Church of Christ, later known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the LDS Church. Due to its association with the Book of Mormon, members of the LDS Church are referred to as Mormons and their religion called Mormonism. |
| 1830, Sep | Emma Hale [Smith] chooses to remain with Joseph Smith when her father evicts Joseph from his farm. |
| 1831, Feb | Joseph and Emma arrive in Kirtland, OH. Joseph resumes his Old Testament translation at Genesis 5:29. |
| 1831, Mar 7 | Joseph Smith leaves off translating the Old Testament at Genesis 24:31. Based on Erastus Snow recollection, Joseph Smith received the revelation regarding the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage (aka plural marriage/Celestial marriage) while translating Genesis 17. |
| 1831, Apr | Emma gives birth to twins Thaddeus and Louisa. They die within hours of birth. She is given the newborn twins of John Murdock, whose wife had died in childbirth. The twins are Joseph Murdock Smith and Julia Murdock Smith. |
| 1832, Feb | Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon receive a revelation prompted by John 5:29 which describes a three-tiered heaven. This appears to be a partial answer to Joseph’s question from March 1831. |
| 1832, Mar | Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon are attacked by a mob. Joseph’s adopted son, Joseph Murdock Smith, dies five days later. |
| 1832, Nov | Emma gives birth to Joseph Smith III. |
| Abt 1833 | Fanny Alger becomes a maid servant in the Smith home. |
| Abt 1834 | Joseph is commanded to enter into plural marriage with Mary Elizabeth Rollins. He does not act. For years she has dreams that she is Joseph’s wife. |
| 1836, Mar | The Kirtland Temple is dedicated |
| 1836, Apr | Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery have a vision in the Kirtland Temple, where the keys of gathering Israel, the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, and the keys to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers are bestowed on Joseph Smith. |
| Abt 1836 | Joseph Smith possibly enters into a Celestial marriage with Fanny Alger. |
| 1836, Jun | Emma gives birth to Frederick Granger Williams Smith. |
| 1836, Sep | Fanny Alger leaves Kirtland. Two months later she marries Solomon Custer. Regarding the end of Fanny’s stay with the Smiths, Oliver Cowdery develops the conviction that Joseph Smith had been guilty of adultery. Joseph counters that the alleged behavior would be appropriate in the context of a marriage. |
| 1838, Jun | Emma gives birth to Alexander Hale Smith |
| 1838, Oct | A Missouri mob attacks the village of Haun’s Mill. 17 men are killed, including the husbands of Catherine Laur [Fuller] and Philinda Eldredge [Merrick] |
| 1838, Nov | Joseph Smith is taken prisoner. He is ordered shot, but the officer refuses to obey. Joseph will eventually be incarcerated in Liberty jail. |
| 1839, Apr | Joseph Smith is allowed to escape from Liberty jail. He flees Missouri and rejoins Emma in Illinois |
| 1840, Jun | Emma gives birth to Don Carlos Smith. |
| 1840, Aug | A Missouri mob attacks Nauvoo. Marietta Rosetta Carter [Holmes], a neighbor of the Smiths who had been married in their home, is killed. Her baby, Mary Holmes, dies the following month. |
| 1840, Sep | Dr. John C. Bennett protects the Smith homestead while Joseph Smith, Sr., gives his dying blessing to his children. |
| 1840, Dec | Dr. Bennett wins passage of a City Charter for Nauvoo. |
| 1841, Jan | Joseph pronounces D&C 124, blessing Dr. Bennett that “for his love he shall be great…” At this time Dr. Bennett was courting a young woman and had apparently requested a bill of divorcement from his estranged wife. |
| 1841, Feb | Dr. Bennett is elected first Mayor of Nauvoo. Joseph becomes aware that Dr. Bennett may have a shady past. He sends George Miller to investigate. |
| 1841, Mar | George Miller writes a letter confirming that Dr. Bennett has a sordid past, including reports from Bennett’s estranged wife alleging adultery and abuse. |
| 1841, Apr | Sidney Rigdon becomes ill. Joseph Smith temporarily installs Dr. Bennett as Assistant President of the Church.
Joseph Smith enters into a Celestial marriage with Louisa Beaman, member of a family that has known Joseph since translation of the Book of Mormon. |
| 1841, NLT May | Dr. Bennett engages in an illicit affair with Sarah Marinda Bates [Pratt], wife of Apostle Orson Pratt |
| 1841, NLT Jun | Dr. Bennett cultivates the widow Catherine Laur [Fuller] as a mistress. He claims any sin will fall upon him, and informs her he has medicine to prevent or terminate pregnancy |
| 1841, Jul | Dr. Bennett confesses to adultery, possibly before a group of 60 men.
Brigham Young and Heber Kimball return to Nauvoo from England Catherine Laur [Fuller] engages in illicit intercourse with George M. Thatcher Orson Pratt returns to Nauvoo and reunites with his wife. Dr. Bennett attempts suicide |
| 1841, Aug | William Clayton visits Nauvoo
Joseph Smith’s clerk, Robert Thompson, dies. An 1843 entry in William Clayton’s journal suggests Robert Thompson had been guilty of illicit intercourse. Orange Wight reportedly learns John Higbee has two wives and recalls girls were calling each other “spirituals.” Says by the following winter he was fully initiated. |
| 1841, Sep | Joseph Smith’s son and brother die, both named Don Carlos Smith.
Don Carlos reportedly had said, “Any man who will teach and practice the doctrine of spiritual wifery will go to hell, I don’t care if it is my brother Joseph.” |
| 1841, Oct | Catherine Laur [Fuller] gives an affidavit naming October as the month Dr. Bennett began to claim that Joseph Smith taught and practiced illicit intercourse
Joseph Smith enters into Celestial marriage with Zina Diantha Huntington [Jacobs] |
| 1841, Nov | William Smith settles in Nauvoo. He will eventually become a key member of Dr. Bennett’s illicit intercourse operation, helping convince women to yield, testifying that Joseph Smith teaches that it is right |
| 1841, Dec | Joseph Smith enters into Celestial marriage with Presendia Lathrop Huntington [Buell]
Brigham Young asks Martha Brotherton to be his “wife.” Joseph prays for the welfare of “B.Y.” |
| 1842, Jan | Joseph Smith enters into a levirate marriage with Agnes Moulton Coolbrith [Smith], widow of his recently-deceased brother. Brigham Young officiates.
The Nauvoo High Council urges the lesser priesthood to go to every home to teach the Saints their duty. This evolves into a city-wide census conducted in Feb 1842 |
| 1842, Feb? | Joseph enters into Celestial marriage with Mary Elizabeth Rollins [Lightner]. Joseph tells her to remain with her husband
Joseph reaches out to Sylvia Sessions [Lyon], wife of dentist and apothecary, Windsor Lyon. |
| 1842, Mar | Joseph reportedly marries Patty Bartlett [Sessions]. Patty is a midwife
The Nauvoo Women’s Relief Society is organized, with a founding purpose to warn the unwary. Emma Smith is president of the new organization. |
| 1842, Apr | Marinda Nancy Johnson [Hyde] invites Nancy Rigdon to talk with Joseph Smith
Possible timeframe when Joseph attempts to talk with Emily Dow Partridge. When Emily refuses to be alone with Joseph or even accept a letter, Elizabeth Durfee asks the Patridge girls to visit and inquires what they know about spiritual wifery |
| 1842, May | Joseph begins administering the initiatory and endowment ceremonies, with vows that sex is only for spouses
A Masonic Lodge is established in Nauvoo Horace Whitney is sent to visit relatives in CT and OH Several informants describe suspicious interactions between women and men. Five women come forward to testify regarding having engaged in illicit intercourse and witnessed others in the act of sex. The testimonies clearly indicate the illicit intercourse heresy was started by Dr. Bennett the prior year. |
| 1842, Jun | Dr. Bennett is cut off from the Church
Oliver Snow leaves Nauvoo Eliza Snow is taken into the home of Relief Society Counselor, Sarah Cleveland. Sarah Cleveland stands as witness as Joseph Smith reportedly enters into Celestial marriage with Eliza Snow |
| 1842, Jul | Dr. Bennett begins to publish a series of exposés, alleging Joseph had taught illicit intercourse and planned to overthrown the United States. Bennett’s early tale claiming to have witnessed Joseph Smith in the act is never repeated in writing
Dr. Bennett accuses Joseph of attempting to seduce Sarah Bates [Pratt]. Joseph counter-accuses Dr. Bennett of engaging in an illicit affair with Sarah [Pratt] Orson Pratt goes missing. He is found miles from Nauvoo near the river. It is believed Orson was contemplating suicide Joseph Smith enters into Celestial marriage with Sarah Ann Whitney, sister of Horace Whitney |
| 1842, Aug | Joseph Smith goes into hiding due to Dr. Bennett’s claims Joseph was behind the shooting of Governor Boggs
Orson Pratt refuses to openly support Joseph Smith. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles excommunicates Orson |
| 1842, Sep | Eliza Snow writes a poem dedicated to Jonathan Holmes. The original manuscript hints this was the first indication that husbands and wives can be “sealed” after death. |
| 1842, Nov | Eliza Snow writes a series of undated poems talking about death, seduction, solitude, and “conscious innocence.” |
| 1842, Dec | Jonathan Holmes marries Elvira Annie Cowles. Elvira has allegedly already promised herself to Joseph Smith. Elvira does not conceive for another two years, months after Joseph Smith’s death
Eliza Snow begins teaching school, teaching daily until March 17, 1843 |
| 1843, Mar | Joseph secretly marries Emily and Eliza Partridge.
Emily’s account makes it clear the marriage was not consummated, at least not the first night |
| 1843, Apr | Erastus Snow returns to Nauvoo. Some time later Joseph Smith teaches him the doctrine of Celestial marriage and asserts “That the time had come now when the principle should be practiced.” |
| 1843, May | Emma Hale [Smith] agrees to enter into Celestial marriage, including giving Eliza and Emily Partridge to Joseph as a public symbol of her acceptance of the principle.
Days after allowing Joseph to marry the Partridge sisters, Emma recants, taking action to curtail the Partridge girls’ access to Joseph. Even so, Emma does go through with the ceremony to be sealed to Joseph. |
| 1843, Jun | Elvira Annie Cowles [Holmes] enters into covenant with Joseph Smith
Emma makes a demand of Joseph, who is commanded to grant Emma her desire. Emma and Joseph travel to Inlet Grove, IL. Joseph is attacked and taken into custody Joseph’s friends are able to get Joseph back to Nauvoo and freedom. Joseph throws a party and invites the men who beat and arrested him to be his guests of honor |
| 1843, Jul | Joseph writes down the revelation regarding the New and Everlasting Covenant (D&C 132). Emma is told to cleave to Joseph and not partake of what she’d been offered. |
| 1843, Aug | Hyrum shares the text of the revelation with the Nauvoo High Council. Some reject the revelation. |
| 1843, Oct | Hyrum Smith shares the revelation with William Law.
Dr. Bennett writes about the “Doctrine of Marrying for Eternity, for the first time reflecting a correct understanding of Joseph’s doctrine. |
| 1843, Dec | Dr. Bennett visits Nauvoo. During the visit Dr. Bennett makes purchases at Joseph’s Red Brick Store
William Law is excluded from the Quorum of the Anointed & removed as Assistant President of the Church |
| 1844, Feb | Thomas Sharp resumes post editing the Warsaw Signal
James Strang joins the Mormon Church Men believed to be sympathetic to an anti-Joseph movement are contacted |
| 1844, Mar | Dennison Harris and Robert Scott agree to spy on the conspirators
Joseph Smith establishes the Council of Fifty Some two hundred attend meetings in the home of William Law where they talk of killing Joseph Smith Joseph confers the keys of gathering, the gospel of Abraham, and the sealing power conveyed by Elijah on the heads of the Apostles Dennison Harris and Robert Scott narrowly escape after refusing to swear an oath to help murder Joseph Smith |
| 1844, Apr | William Law excommunicated |
| 1844, May | Austin Cowles excommunicated
Affidavits of some women seduced by John Bennett and Chauncey Higbee published in the Nauvoo Neighbor |
| 1844 Jun | First and only issue of the Nauvoo Expositor is published by Chauncey Higbee et al., with affidavits from William Law and Austin Cowles
Nauvoo Expositor press destroyed Joseph arrested, imprisoned, and shot during a mob attack Bodies of Joseph and Hyrum Smith returned to Nauvoo |
| 1844, Sep | Brigham Young persuades the Mormons in Nauvoo that he is the rightful successor to Joseph Smith
James Strang makes a claim that he has been designated Joseph’s successor. Many of the known conspirators ally themselves with Strang Young and Kimball begin to solemnize plural marriages, including marrying numerous widows of Joseph Smith |
| 1845, Oct | William Smith excommunicated after openly preaching regarding spiritual wifery |
| 1845, Dec | The Nauvoo temple is dedicated and ordinance work begins |
| 1845, Feb | The Mormons begin to leave Nauvoo, hoping to reach the Rockies in time to plant crops in summer 1845. They will not arrive until July 1847 |
| 1845, Sep | The Battle of Nauvoo occurs as a mob of 1000 men attacks the scant 100 remaining residents of Nauvoo. |
| 1846, Jul | 500 Mormon men sign up to serve in the U.S. Army to fight in the Mexican War. The Mormon Battalion never sees battle, but discovers gold at Sutter’s Mill and paves the wagon road across the Sierra Madres that will be used by those bound to California during the gold rush. |
| 1847, Jul | The first Mormons arrive in Salt Lake Valley. Brigham Young declares that “This is the right place…” |
| 1848, Sep | The Holmes-Thompson company, Battalion members who paved the wagon trail over the Sierra Madres, return to their families in Salt Lake valley |
| 1852, Aug | Orson Pratt gives a public sermon announcing Mormons formally embrace the doctrine of plural marriage |
| 1853, Jul | Former Nauvoo Stake President, William Marks, publishes account where Joseph Smith had reportedly condemned “this doctrine of polygamy, or Spiritual-wife System” weeks before his death in 1844. |
| 1857, May | Apostle Parley P. Pratt is gunned down and stabbed by Hector McLean, whose wife and children had accepted Pratt’s protection in fleeing the abusive McLean. Pratt dies hours later from loss of blood. The killing revives Mormon feelings of persecution anchored in the violent expulsion from Missouri and Illinois, as well as the killing of Joseph and Hyrum Smith |
| 1857, Jul | Federal troops leave Fort Leavenworth, KS, bound to Utah Territory to subdue to Mormons, who are believed to be in open rebellion against the United States |
| 1857, Sep | Brigham Young tells Mormons to avoid interactions with non-Mormons, including traditional assistance to travelers. The Baker-Fancher Party attempt to reach California by taking a trail through southern Utah. The party is attacked near Mountain Meadows. All in the party old enough to identify who the attackers had been are killed. |
| 1858, Mar | 30,000 Mormons board up their homes. They move south of the Traverse Mountain Pass separating Salt Lake Valley (e.g., Salt Lake City) from Utah Valley (e.g., Provo). |
| 1858, Jun | As agreed with Buchanan’s peace commission, Johnston’s army enters the Salt Lake valley. A few Mormon men are left behind to torch the improvements, if U.S. troops fail to honor the agreement. |
| 1858, Jul | Once the U.S. Army is seen as respecting the peace terms, the Mormons leave Provo and returned to their farms. Several outlying communities are abandoned. |
| 1861-1865 | The American Civil War occurs. The Federal troops stationed in Utah depart in August 1861. A contingent returns in 1862. |
| 1862, Jul | Abraham Lincoln signs the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, focused on Mormon polygamy. The American Civil War and lack of funds prevent significant enforcement. |
| 1869 | Joseph Smith’s sons and other missionaries from the Re-organized LDS Church (RLDS Church) proselyte throughout Utah and the Mormon settlements attempting to persuade the Utah Mormons that Joseph Smith never was a polygamist. In response, Joseph F. Smith and Andrew Jensen separately compile affidavits clarifying the dates and details of Joseph Smith’s covenants in Nauvoo. |
| 1870 | Utah Territory passes women’s suffrage
Brigham Young’s grand-niece, Sarah Young, is first woman to cast a vote in the United States |
| 1877, Aug | Brigham Young dies
John Taylor becomes leader of the LDS Church |
| 1882, Mar | President Chester A. Arthur signs the Edmunds Act, building on the Morrill act by revoking the right of polygamists to vote and barring them from jury duty or political office.
The Federal government begins incarcerating polygamists in the penitentiary. |
| 1885 | President John Taylor, who had succeeded Brigham Young, goes underground to escape Federal custody. |
| 1886 | John Taylor asks God to end the New and Everlasting Covenant. An uncanonized revelation prohibits Taylor from revoking the Everlasting Covenant. John Taylor presumes he must continue the practice of plural marriage. |
| 1887 | Congress passes the Edmunds-Tucker Act. The act dis-incorporates the LDS Church and makes Church properties valued at more than $50,000 subject to confiscation. This would include the Mormon temples. The act requires wives to testify against their husbands. The act also takes away voting rights from Utah women.
John Taylor dies two months after learning of the passage of the Edmunds-Tucker Act. Wilford Woodruff assumes leadership of the LDS Church. |
| 1890, Oct | Faced with potential loss of the temples, LDS Church President Wilford Woodruff issues the Anti-Polygamy Manifesto, prohibiting Mormons from entering into any marriage prohibited by the law of the land. Existing plural marriages continue to be seen as valid. |
| 1887-1894 | The RLDS Church sues for possession of the Missouri Temple Lot from the Hedrickites or Church of Christ (Temple Lot). The LDS Church sides with the Hedrickites to keep the important property out of RLDS hands. The initial ruling awarded the property to the RLDS Church. An appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit produces lengthy testimony regarding polygamy, in aid of proving that the RLDS Church was not the rightful successor to Joseph Smith’s original Church. The Court of Appeals chooses to vacate the original trial court ruling. |
| 1900-1901 | Three junior LDS Apostles marry additional plural wives. They preach that plural marriage must continue. |
| 1903 | LDS Apostle Reed Smoot is elected to the U.S. Senate. |
| 1904-1907 | The U.S. Senate conducts hearings into Reed Smoot’s suitability to serve in the U.S. Senate. The hearings created a 3,5000 page record of “every peculiarity of Mormonism.” |
| 1904 | LDS President Joseph F. Smith issues a Second Manifesto, clarifying that any Church officer who performed a plural marriage, as well as the offending couple, will be excommunicated. Smith extends the policy to the entire world, where the 1890 Manifesto had been understood as applying only within the United States.
Apostle Abraham Owen Woodruff dies of small pox. |
| 1905 | Apostles John W. Taylor and Mattias F. Cowley resign from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. |
| 1911 | John W. Taylor is excommunicated for having married his secretary in 1909, making her his sixth plural wife. |
| 1912 | Lorin C. Woolley writes the first account of John Taylor’s 1886 revelation. Woolley claims it was polygamy that God had declared could not be revoked. |
| 1914 | John W. Woolley is excommunicated for performing plural marriages |
| 1916 | John W. Taylor dies. LDS President Joseph F. Smith sits vigil at Taylor’s deathbed. The LDS Church refuses to restore Taylor’s blessings or acknowledge his post-Manifesto marriages for many decades after his death. |
| 1924 | Lorin C. Woolley excommunicated for “pernicious falsehood” related to his claims that Heber J. Grant and James E. Talmage had recently married plural wives. |
| 1928 | Lorin C. Wolley succeeds his father as senior member and prophet of the Council of Friends, a sect dedicated to continuing the practice of polygamy despite LDS Manifestos prohibiting the practice. |
| 1943 | Apostle Richard Lyman is excommunicated for engaging in a long-term affair. Lyman thought his relationship was an unofficial but permissible polygamous union |
| 2014, Nov | Media outlets around the world realize that the LDS Church had quietly published scholarly articles regarding early LDS polygamy. The CNN headline reads “Mormon Founder Joseph Smith wed 40 Wives.” |