The True Story of Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger 

Wow they changed the word scrape for affair, not knowing that in the future affair would mean adultery.

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

He did as commanded by The Lord to the best of his understanding. That's what he did.

@@Sirwalter2008 hmm. Why are you so eager to prove Joseph wrong. Makes me wonder what’s going on in your life…

@@_inveterate I was mormon when I was young, there is a lot of stuff that was "anti mormon" then that now is "Yes... it happened but..." But back then I was told it was lies. The church is deceiving people with fear, this apply not only to mormons but actually all religions. People have to realize by themselve.

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

Ok so?

@@Dandeeman26 Joseph "married" Fanny when she was 16 and Helen when she was 14. The LDS Church described Joseph Smith as a “a young boy”, “young”, “a young lad”, a “lad”, “was a mere boy”, and just a “boy” when he was 14 years old? (Joseph Smith, Gospel Topics - LDS Church & Joseph Smith History - 1:8,22 & Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration, Chapter 5, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Howard W. Hunter & What the Scriptures Say About: Serving the Lord While We Are Young, The New Era, May 1972 & “Praise to the Man”: Latter-day Prophets Bear Witness of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Chapter 47, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith & “Joseph Smith: First President of the Church”, Chapter 1, Presidents of the Church Student Manual, 2004, etc, etc, etc) Therefore, it would also be true that Helen Mar Kimball was “a young girl”, “young”, “a young lass”, a “lass”, “was a mere girl”, and just a “girl” when Joseph Smith, at age 37, married her when she was 14 years old. (Gospel Topics Essays: Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo, 2014 - LDS Church & Helen Mar Kimball - wivesofjosephsmith & Mormon Polygamy, Polyandry & Underage Brides: Did Joseph have sex with 14-year-old Helen? - Mormonthink) And, it would likewise be true that Clarissa Decker, Sarah Minnie Jensen, and Emma Smoot Smith were also, “young girls”, “young”, “young lasess”, “lasses”, “mere girls”, and just “girls” when, at age 15, they were married to Brigham Young [age 42, had 5 children together], Lorenzo Snow [age 57, had 5 children together], and Wilford Woodruff [age 46, had 8 children together] respectively, especially since the average marrying age of females during that time was 22 years old. (Teen Brides of Early Mormon Prophets - Missed In Sunday School & Nuptiality Measures for the White Population of the United States, 1850-1880 - National Center for Biotechnology Information & Long Term Marriage Patterns in the United States From Colonial Times to the Present - National Bureau of Economic Research & When Did Teen Girls Stop Commonly Getting Married? - todayifoundout )

@@Dandeeman26 What do you mean "so?". If you don't see a problem with that, then you support 37 year old men marrying 16 year old girls, and 38 year old men marrying 14 year old girls.

We can speculate all we want. But we know nothing about it because we weren’t there, and so we choose what we want to believe

@@_inveterate well; that kind means that history doesn’t exist and all data should be ignored because none of us witnessed any of it first hand. History is largely about weighing the credibility of sources, and it isn’t inviolate. You can certainly choose to believe that JS had no wife but Emma, despite massive evidence. Or that he did, and Emma supported it. You can choose to believe that Native American are really descendants of Israelites, by ignoring all evidence. Or that tapirs and horses could be easily confused, or that the Book of Abraham could really be direct translation of a funeral scroll. Lots of people do; it’s a free country.

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

@@_inveterate It seems the more information that comes out, the more apologists say, "We don't know what happened." For the first three decades of my life, the church fervently taught the B of M was translated using the Urim and Thummim, by reading directly from the plates. When the church was finally forced to admit Joseph possessed and used a seer stone in a hat, apologists screamed, "We don't know how it was done, we only have clues." Kinderhook plates? "We don't know if Joseph actually tried to translate them." Book of Abraham? "We don't know if Joseph actually translated the parchment or if it was just inspiration." What will the church not know tomorrow?

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

Yes. Thank you!

As all antimormon videos and lies do.

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

Thanks for the comment and question. We definitely agree that the credibility of McLellin's accounts are particularly suspect because of the circumstances you cited, as well as his vicious antagonism of Joseph Smith and the church. However, these records exist and must be accounted for in some way. Additionally, since there are so few accounts of the marriage between Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger, we thought it worth the time to present the information we do have. We are trying to incorporate nuance whenever we can, so thank you for the suggestions. Thanks for watching!

@@Mormonismexplained That’s great that you are aware of the issues with the sources but the frustration is that videos like this still perpetuate this story as fact, even with these poor sources. The same goes for Mosiah Hancock, his version of what happened is highly suspect, considering he was a toddler at the time and his father said nothing about this alleged relationship. I would present this story as, here is what allegedly happened based on these sources, and explain the nuance of the sources for full transparency. When you factor in the context and the parties involved with this narrative, the more logical conclusion is that nothing happened between Joseph and Fanny, neither adultery nor a plural marriage. I’d just be careful in how these stories are presented, as many people will not dive in and do their own research.

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

He did not. Thanks for watching!

Oh yes he did !! "History of the church vol 6 page 408-409

@@jwinfrey6298 Wrong.. he's not saying he was more important that Jesus. And if you read your Bible you would know that Jesus followers did desert him.. Do you recall Peter denying Christ three times?

@@oceancoast92657 he actually said he had more to boast about than any of the apostles and even more than Jesus,sound like a very humble person. The apostles most all paid for the gospel with their lives ,unlike the child molester josoph that went down pistol in hand firing. He didn't ever know the Jesus of the bible thats why he made up his own ,like we are warned about in matt25

@@oceancoast92657 Matthew 24:24

Joseph Smith wrote that if Emma didn't accept his plural marriages then God would destroy her. This stuff is easy to Google. Emma didn't accept it, pushed one of his girls down the stairs and was never destroyed by God. She stated she was his only wife out of disgust for the other women he brought in to their marriage.

Both apologists and critics agree that plural marriage was instituted by Joseph Smith-there are simply too many sources that confirm Joseph Smith practiced polygamy to suggest otherwise. Although Emma never wrote about plural marriage, there are quite a few sources that relate how Emma was aware of her husband’s practice of polygamy. There do not seem to be any literary analyses that verify your argument about Doctrine and Covenants 132, it seems like a personal opinion rather than a historical or literary analysis. Thanks for the comment!

@@Mormonismexplained Joseph Smith was dead when Section 132 was published. I don't think that is just a personal opinion.

Where are the videos and recordings of Joseph Smith and Emma saying and doing all of these things? That's right, we just have other people's self serving accounts. Hello, I am a man "an expert" and I have an agenda, have been raised to think I am superior, am a bit shallow and my wife isn't so perfect anymore after a few babies, so you what is inspired? The Old Testament! The women are not in a position to go against all of this spiritual abuse. Oh, and I will tell them "As if I completely understand what it is to be a woman" that "Men are just more visual". Ends up women who have their own financial independence are "just as visual". Have the handwriting experts proven with a 100% asurity these documents are not clever forgeries? Satan is doing an inside job on the Mormons. All these people watching porn and breaking their brains are ready to accept all the poly dom/sub horrible stuff that Jacob in the Book of Mormon warns us about. The Book of Mormon is the most correct book and your historians - what is their agenda? How "perfect" are they? Why in the world do we need polygamy when we can adopt an orphanage? In heaven we have eternity or are we so sure all the souls from other planets are also "all women"? Can we really be so sure there are not enough men in heaven when so many more male babies and youth die than female for centuries? The Kinky heaven and "Prepare to accept and do this poly sub/dom thing here on earth" stuff is just wrong. The trying to be so sure Joseph Smith did it so we should all follow is harming the church a lot and the poly weirdos know it. Some even use the poly stuff as an excuse for their favorite politicians.

The soviets had too many sources to prove their ideas too.

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

@@textbooksmathematicstutorials Why do you keep posting this? It is both true and completely irrelevant to this video.

I don't think you went around posting this comment enough times. Maybe copy and paste it a few hundred more times?

Mormonism Explained is not affiliated with the Mormon church in any way. Our research team is comprised of members of the church, former members of the church and members of other faiths. Amidst a sea of historical narratives and misinformation, our goal is to provide factual clarity and objectivity to those genuinely seeking truth. You can read more at mormonismexplained.org/about/ Thanks for watching.

@@Critical-guy the LDS church does not directly pay social media producers. Oddly, though, the monitization rate for the key work “Mormon” is extremely high compared to comparable key words. This money comes from advertisers. It’s not traceable to the church. Even if the reason advertisers pay so much for this content is because funding is being funneled through businesses by the church -we can’t really know, and the content creator wouldn’t really know.

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

@@textbooksmathematicstutorials Thank you, according to some, he had married Fanny Alger first.

@@hglundahl Irrelevant who he marry first as the guy had 30 wives.

@@hglundahl So Fanny Alger was his true love and the other 29 wives were just mistresses?

@@textbooksmathematicstutorials I would say his first wife was his _wife_ (if any at all). Polygamous intent may make marriage invalid.

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

The name of the 14 year old girl that Joseph Smith marry when he was 38, was Helen Mar Kimball not Fanny Alger.

@@Sirwalter2008 If you only had a brain fruitcake.