Fanny Young Smith

Fanny was my last wife to paint, she was Brigham Young's older sister.  She married Robert Carr  at 18 years old and then left him because of his unfaithfulness.  She returned to her father's house to care for her mother who was ill and help raise the younger children. She married Roswell Murray, he died leaving her a widow at  fifty-two.  Fanny married Joseph the year before his death, after his death Fanny made the trek to Utah and lived out the final years of her life in the Lion House.

I did this project to honor these pioneer women who lived the practice of polygamy out of a pure faith that they were doing the right thing in the eyes of God. These women are now ghosts in our history and we don't teach or talk about their lives, even those who were married to prophets. It is my hope that some day we will be able to openly celebrate their lives and share their incredible stories. I love these women  and how they have made Mormon history come alive for me.

Nancy Winchester

Nancy married Joseph at 14 or 15 years old, shortly before his death. She went on marry Heber Kimball. According to the Arnold  family records, Heber asked Amos George Arnold to marry her so she can become a mother and promised him that he would later have the opportunity of marrying a younger wife. Nancy had one child with Amos.

Melissa Lott

Melissa married Joseph in 1843. She shared some information that would prove famous in her Temple Lot affidavit. She said she was Joseph's wife "in very deed." She was married to John M. Bernhisel for a short time and then married Ira Jones Willes and settled in Lehi Utah and had seven children.

Desdemona Wadsworth Fullmer

Desdemona married Joseph at age 30. She told Joseph she had a dream that Emma was going to poison her and he said it was true, she would if she could. After Joseph's death she married Ezra T. Benson, it was an unhappy marriage and she ended up divorcing him. Shortly after she married a man named Harrison Parker Mclane, an elder in the church who ended up leaving the church and her. She lived a life of poverty in Salt Lake City and died at age 77.

Emma Hale Smith

Emma was the first and only legal wife of Joseph Smith. She was surrounded by controversy throughout her life and death. She opposed polygamy and was torn between love for her husband and acceptance of his plural wives. After his death she became a member of the RLDS church. 

Olive Grey Frost

Olive was born in Maine and became a skilled seamstress. She accompanied her sister Mary Ann and her husband Apostle Parley P. Pratt on a mission to England, they were the first women missionaries to go abroad. She later married Joseph and then Brigham. She died at age 28, probably of malaria.

Rhoda Richards

 I thought I would post the original picture of Rhoda. Rhoda's true love was Ebenezer Damon. Ebenezer became ill and Rhoda attended to him until he died. She was Joseph's twenty-eighth wife and then Brigham's twenty-second wife. She suffered poor health most of her life but made the trek to Utah and lived to the age of ninety-four.

Night out with the girls!

 A fun night out with girlfriends at Painting  with a Twist

My goofy Chris

Chris texted me a crazy picture of himself and asked me to paint it for Portia for her birthday.  This is a 4x6 watercolor I did last night!  

Helen Mar Kimball

Helen is the daughter of Heber and Vilate Kimball. She married Joseph at the age of 14,after Joseph convinced Helen and her parents that the marriage would ensure their eternal salvation and exaltation. Helen would write about the weekly parties at Joseph Smith's Mansion House that she was not allowed attend because she was a married woman. She wrote about her sadness and loneliness in her poems. After Joseph's death, she found herself a widow at age sixteen. Helen married Horace Kimball Whitney and had eleven children. She wrote for the Women's Exponent and kept extensive journals. She died in Salt Lake City at the age of 68.