Kimball, Stanley B. Heber C. Kimball: Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer. Urbana: University of
Illinois Press, 1981.
Chapter 9
A Time of Testing
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.93
During the summer of 1841, shortly after Heber's return from England, he was introduced to the
doctrine of plural marriage directly through a startling test—a sacrifice that shook his very being
and challenged his faith to the ultimate. He had already sacrificed homes, possessions, friends,
relatives, all worldly rewards, peace, and tranquility for the Restoration. Nothing was left to
place on the altar save his life, his children, and his wife. Then came the Abrahamic test. Joseph
demanded for himself what to Heber was the unthinkable, his Vilate. Totally crushed spiritually
and emotionally, Heber touched neither food nor water for three days and three nights and
continually sought confirmation and comfort from God. On the evening of the third day, some
kind of assurance came, and Heber took Vilate to the upper room of Joseph's store on Water
Street. The Prophet wept at this act of faith, devotion, and obedience. Joseph had never intended
to take Vilate. It was all a test. Heber had passed the ordeal, as had Vilate. How much she knew,
however, of what was going on is not known. No reference of hers to the matter has been found.
Then and there Joseph sealed their marriage for time and eternity,1 perhaps the first sealing of
this kind among the Mormons.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.93
During Heber's lifetime there were four types of marriage in the church. The first was a standard
civil marriage for life. The second was a temple marriage for life, which differed from a civil
marriage only in solemnity. The third was a temple marriage for eternity, sometimes referred to
as "a sealing," a spiritual or "celestial" union or marriage. It could be performed between two
living persons, two deceased persons, or between one living and one dead person. It could even
be performed between two living persons one or both of whom had living spouses. Such a
marriage, however, had no binding effect during their lifetimes on the two people who entered
into it. It simply meant that they would be united in the world [p.94] to come. The fourth type,
the most important and today considered the ideal, was the temple (or celestial) marriage during
mortality and in eternity. This marriage could be entered into only by two living persons and
meant that their union was not "until death do ye part" but rather forever, in the fullest sense,
both in this life and the next. (In wedding announcements modern Mormons look for some
variant of the words "sealed for time and eternity in the…temple" much as Catholics watch for
the phrase "fortified with Sacraments of Holy Mother Church" in obituaries —both expressions
suggesting a happier afterlife to their adherents). Such a belief, even in conjugality in the next
world, makes marriage a total commitment for most Mormons. Divorce is relatively rare, and
Mormon men are constantly reminded to be good husbands and fathers. "No success in life can
compensate for failure in the home" is a twentieth-century Mormon saying.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.94
Following the sealing, Joseph turned to Heber and said, "Brother Heber, take her and the Lord
will give you a hundred fold."2 The last part of this statement foreshadowed a further test.
Sometime later it came—Heber was commanded to take another wife, and not merely to do it but
to do it secretly—to betray his wife's confidence. Secrecy was the great problem in plural
marriage. In Nauvoo plural marriage was never openly practiced, taught, or admitted. In fact, to
prevent wholesale apostasy over such a radical doctrine, the teaching was not only kept secret
but was officially denied. A few knew about it and accepted it, a few opposed it, and most knew
nothing about it. This, of course, led to many tales and rumors of seduction and adultery, which
stirred up anti-Mormon sentiments, disturbed many faithful Mormons who had not been taught
the doctrine, and embittered many in and out of the church against Joseph Smith.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.94
These tales, rumors, misrepresentations, charges, countercharges, denunciations, unauthorized
acts by some Mormons, and denials became and have remained the stock-in-trade of many
sensation-seeking writers. Had the doctrine been made public the reaction could hardly have
been worse than it was. Joseph was placed in the position of being damned if he did and damned
if he didn't admit to it.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.94
Heber appears to have been involved in only one such rumor, that of the Martha Brotherton
affair. During July, 1842, Martha accused Heber of having been party to a "locked room" attempt
to persuade her to become the plural wife of Brigham Young, and the charge spread far and
wide. While Heber might well have interceded with her in Brigham's behalf, he vigorously
denied having done anything improper. His statement is easy to believe, for he was very open in
his affairs. He was in fact so [p.95] guileless that a study of his family life (see also chapters 20
and 21) offers a unique example of what plural marriage was really like and is a good antidote to
the sensational and negative accounts of the practice.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.95
It is impossible to say how extensively plural marriage was practiced in Nauvoo, but in addition
to Joseph Smith, Heber Kimball, and Brigham Young, at least nineteen others are known to have
entered into it there. They were Ezra T. Benson, Gladden Bishop, William Clayton, Howard
Egan, Thomas Grover, Orson Hyde, Benjamin F. Johnson, Joseph Bates Noble, Parley P. Pratt,
Willard Richards, Hyrum Smith, John Smith, William Smith, Erastus Snow, Charles C. Rich,
James J. Strang, John Taylor, and Lyman Wight as well as Edwin D. Woolley and Alpheus
Cutler.3
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.95
When Helen's friend Sarah Ann Whitney became a plural wife of Joseph Smith, it was kept
secret. Sarah Ann was not even permitted to tell her brother Horace, to whom she was very close
and devoted. Horace soon thereafter took a trip east, and according to Helen (who later married
Horace), "He had some slight suspicion that the stories about Joseph were not all without
foundations, but had never told them, nor did he know the facts till after his return to Nauvoo,
when Sarah hastened to tell him all. It was no small stumbling-block to him...."4
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.95
There is no evidence that Mormon males ever welcomed the practice of plural marriage. Even
the faithful Heber resisted. (He had, after all, read the 1835 statement in the Doctrine and
Covenants stressing monogamy.) In spite of his 1839 revelation that he would have "many sons
and daughters" and that his posterity would "be as numerous as the sands upon the sea shore,"5
Joseph had to warn him that he could lose his apostleship and to command him three times to
obey.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.95
Finally, in an effort to spare Vilate's feelings, Heber agreed early in 1842 to marry one or
perhaps two spinster sisters, Laura Pitkin (fifty-two years old) and Abigail Pitkin (forty-five),
who were friends of Vilate.6 Joseph, however, commanded him to marry the thirty-one-year-old
Sarah Peak (Noon),7 an English convert with two young daughters, abandoned in Nauvoo by her
husband when he returned to England. Heber complied. The date of the marriage is unknown,
but it was early in 1842. Sarah and her daughters, of course, did not live with the Kimballs, but
elsewhere in Nauvoo. The question about whether Sarah was legally divorced seems to have
been of small importance. Some church leaders at that time considered civil marriage by nonMormon clergymen to be as unbinding as their baptisms. Some previous marriages, as was
surely the case with Sarah, were annulled simply by ignoring them. There is no evidence that
Sarah's husband ever knew or cared what happened to her.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.96
[p.96] After the marriage, the awful secret weighed on Heber and, according to his daughter,
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.96
My mother had noticed a change in his looks and appearance, and when she enquired the cause,
he tried to evade her question, saying it was only her imagination, or that he was not feeling well,
etc. But it so worked upon his mind that his anxious and haggard looks betrayed him daily and
hourly, and finally his misery became so unbearable that it was impossible to control his
feelings. He became sick in body, but his mental wretchedness was too great to allow of his
retiring at night, and instead of going to bed he would walk the floor; and the agony of his mind
was so terrible that he would wring his hands and weep, beseeching the Lord with his whole soul
to be merciful and reveal to his wife the cause of his great sorrow, for he himself could not break
his vow of secrecy. His anguish and my mother's, were indescribable and when unable to endure
it longer, she retired to her room, where with a broken and contrite heart, she poured out her grief
to [God]....
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.96
Her mind was opened, and she saw the principle of Celestial marriage illustrated in all its beauty
and glory, together with the great exaltation and honor it would confer upon her in that immortal
and celestial sphere if she would but accept it and stand in her place by her husband's side. She
was also shown the woman he had taken to wife, and contemplated with joy the vast and
boundless love and union which this order would bring about, as well as the increase of
kingdoms, power, and glory extending throughout the eternities, worlds without end....She
returned to my father, saying, Heber, what you have kept from me the Lord has shown me.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.96
She related the scene to me and to many others, and told me she never saw so happy a man as
father was, when she described the vision and told him she was satisfied and knew that it was
from God.8
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.96
However strange such an experience seems to twentieth-century minds, the record of Vilate's life
to her death twenty-five years later in 1867 adequately demonstrates that she firmly believed that
she indeed had had such a revelation. Vilate knew of all Heber's plural marriages from then on,
and she became and remained a staunch supporter of her husband and several of her children
who also entered into the practice.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.96
Although such a vision of the celestial order was unusual if not unique, other women claimed to
have received divine sanction of "the Principle." On June 27, 1843, Vilate wrote to Heber, who
was on a mission in Philadelphia at the time:
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.96
I have had a visit from brother Parley [Pratt] and his wife, they are truly converted it appears that
J[oseph] has taught him some principles [p.97] and told him his privilege, and even appointed
one for him. I dare not tell you who it is, you would be astonished and I guess some tried. She
has been to me for council. I told her I did not wish to advise in such matters. Sister [Mary Ann]
Pratt has been rageing against these things. She told me herself that the devil had been in her
until within a few days past. She said the Lord had shown her it was all right. She wants Parley
to go ahead, says she will do all in her power to help him; they are so ingagued I fear they will
run to[o] fast. They ask me many questions on principle. I told them I did not know much and I
rather they would go to those that had authority to teach.9
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.97
The woman about whom Vilate felt Heber "would be astonished" was Elizabeth Brotherton, the
sister of Martha Brotherton, who, as noted above, had spread her unfavorable views of plural
marriage.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.97
Lucy Walker, who first married Joseph Smith and, then after his death, became one of Heber's
plural wives, felt she too had some sort of divine sanction. After she first refused Joseph Smith's
proposal of marriage, he promised her a "manifestation of the will of God....'It shall be that joy
and peace that you never knew.'"10 This manifestation came, and Lucy married Joseph on May
1, 1843.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.97
Not all to whom Joseph Smith confided the doctrine of plural marriage accepted it and passed
this test of obedience as did Heber. Some men thought Joseph was trying to seduce their wives.
One of Joseph's counselors, William Law, for example, apostatized and became a bitter enemy of
Joseph, and Apostle Orson Pratt was rebellious for a season. Such tests gave rise to widespread
rumors of seduction in Nauvoo and brought much antagonism.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.97
Helen Kimball was only thirteen in 1842 when her father took a second wife. She suspected
nothing, even when Sarah Peak had a child in December, 1842, or January, 1843. "I had no
knowledge then of the plural order," she later wrote, "and therefore remained ignorant of our
relationship to each other until after his [the infant's] death, as he only lived a few months. It's
true I had noticed the great interest taken by my parents in behalf of Sister Noon [Peak] but…I
thought nothing strange of this."11
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.97
During the summer of 1843 Heber decided to explain plural marriage to Helen, who was then
nearly fifteen. Perhaps he was at that time thinking of joining his house to the Prophet's through
Helen. Helen later explained that her father offered her to Joseph because of his "great desire to
be connected with the Prophet."12 In the early years of the church a loose form of "Mormon
dynasticism" did evolve through such intermarriages among leading families.13 One afternoon
Heber called Helen to him privately. [p.98] He explained the principle to her and asked if she
would accept it. Disturbed and indignant, she answered that she wouldn't. Heber wisely did not
push the issue. Later, after Joseph came to the Kimball home and explained the principle more
fully, Helen accepted it and was sealed to Joseph.14
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.98
Many years later in Utah she wrote a retrospective poem about this marriage from which we
learn that it was "for eternity alone," that is, un-consummated. Whatever such a marriage
promised for the next world, it brought her no immediate earthly happiness. She saw herself as a
"fetter'd bird" without youthful friends and a subject of slander.15 This poem also reveals that
Joseph Smith's several pro forma marriages to the daughters of his friends were anything but
sexual romps. Furthermore, the poem reinforces the idea that, despite the trials of plurality in
mortality, a "glorious crown" awaited the faithful and obedient in heaven.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.98
That same summer Heber went on another mission. In a effort to ease Helen's mind, he wrote
from Pittsburgh, "My Dear Helen…You have been on my mind much since I left home, and also
your dear mother, who has the first place in my heart....My dear daughter, what shall I say to
you? I will tell you, learn to be meek and gentle, and let your heart seek after wisdom...."16
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.98
Helen did find wisdom, or at least she remained obedient. After the death of Joseph, her second
husband also practiced plural marriage. Although she published two booklets, Plural Marriage as
Taught by the Prophet Joseph (1882) and Why We Practice Plural Marriage (1884), a 108-part
series of "Life Incidents" in the Woman's Exponent (1880-86), and came to be regarded as a
staunch advocate of plural marriage, she never alluded to her marriage to Joseph and made but
two slight references to ever having lived "the principle" herself. Her personal affairs were not
for the public. Once she said, "I have encouraged and sustained my husband in the celestial order
of marriage because I knew it was right." On another occasion she wrote, "I have been a
spectator and a participant in this order of matrimony for over thirty years…being a first
wife...."17
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.98
Helen did, however, feel free to record some pertinent information about the much-debated
question of Emma Smith's knowledge of and reaction to plural marriage: "He [Joseph] taught the
principle to his wife, Emma, who humbly received it and gave to him three young women to
wife, who had been living with her in her family, and had been like adopted daughters. Until she
lost the spirit and her heart became hardened, they lived happily together....Emma deceived her
children and denied to everyone that the Prophet had ever received a revelation on Celestial
marriage, [p.99] or had ever practiced it; although she had heard the revelation and was eye
witness to the marriage of the three wives above mentioned."18
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.99
Although Heber was sealed to at least forty-three women before he died in 1868, he had children
by only seventeen. There is little indication that he ever considered plural marriage as more than
a chore, a religious responsibility for raising up a large family and providing for widows. The
principle certainly did not contribute to domestic tranquility. Heber was not able to give his
various wives equal attention and he appears to have been much less emotionally involved with
his other plural wives than with Vilate. Many years later in 1893 one of his wives, by whom he
had nine children, admitted that there was "not any love in the union between myself and
Kimball, and it is my business entirely whether there was any courtship or not."19
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.99
He did not act hastily or out of romantic inclination and did not take any other wives for two
years after marrying his first plural wife. In his letters, journals, and discourses there are frequent
references to Vilate and her children, but seldom a mention of others in his family, which
eventually totaled at least 108 persons. It was always Vilate who remained the center of his
emotional life. He frequently felt the necessity of trying to comfort her, to assure her that she was
the first in his life, the love of his youth, and that no one could or would ever take her place.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.99
Shortly after entering his first plural marriage, Heber was on a mission in Illinois. From Apple
Creek20 on October 16 he wrote Vilate. This letter is the earliest known record of how polygamy
affected their relationship, and, surprisingly, it appears that the practice of plural and temple
marriage brought them closer together. He had never before written anything so tender and
romantic as "I dream about you most every night, but always feel disappointed for when I awake,
behold it is a dream and l could cry if it would do me any good. I am quite a child some of the
time." Or "You was speaking about if I had sent a kiss to you. I will send you several on the top
of this page where those round marks are, no less than one dozen. [These tender symbols are still
clearly discernible.] I had the pleasure of receiving those that you sent. I can tell you it is a
pleasure in some degree, but when I come home I will try the lump itself."21
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.99
Nine days later, from Springfield, he wrote how he regretted the sorrow he had caused her: "I
never suffered more in all my life," he affirmed, "than since this thing came to pass."22 At the
time of this letter he had been gone from home less than five weeks and had never been more
than 100 miles from Nauvoo. Compared with previous separations, this 1842 [p.100] parting was
nothing. The strain of the ordeal of obedience through which they had just passed offers all
explanation for the tenderness of these and subsequent letters compared with the business-like
travelogues written on his earlier missions.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.100
We learn further of their early adjustment to plurality from Vilate's letter, written that same
October. "Our good friend S[arah Peak] is as ever," she wrote, and "we are one. You said I must
tell you all my feelings; but if I were to tell you that I sometimes felt tempted and tried and feel
as though my burden was greater than I could bear, it would only be a source of sorrow to you,
and the Lord knows that I do not wish to add one sorrow to your heart, for be assured, my dear
Heber, that I do not love you any the less for what has transpired neither do I believe that you do
me...."23
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.100
Sarah added a postscript to this letter, one of the few extant notes or letters from any of his other
wives:
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.100
My very dear friend: inasmuch as I have listened to your counsel hitherto I have been prospered,
therefore, I hope that I shall ever adhere to it strictly in the future.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.100
Your kind letter was joyfully received. I never read it but I received some comfort and feel
strengthened and I thank you for it. You may depend upon my moving as soon as the house is
ready. I feel anxious as I perceive my infirmities increasing daily. Your request with regard to
Sister Kimball I will attend to. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to add to the happiness of
my friends; I only wish that I had more ability to do so. I am very glad we are likely to see you
so soon, and pray that nothing may occur to disappoint us. When you request Vilate to meet you,
perhaps you forget that I shall then stand in jeopardy every hour, and would not have her absent
for worlds. My mind is fixed and I am rather particular, but still, for your comfort, I will submit.
I am as ever.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.100
Some of her comments are more meaningful when it is known that both Sarah and Vilate were
then about seven months pregnant. Heber had hardly adjusted to the realities of multiple
pregnancies or he certainly would not have asked Vilate to join him. Sarah shows spunk in her
honesty to Heber, and for whatever reason, Vilate did not leave her to join him. The letter also
suggests considerable harmony between Sarah and Vilate.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.100
In 1843, while her husband was on another mission, Vilate rather anxiously wrote, "Let your
heart be comforted and if you never more behold my face in time let this be my last covenant and
testimony unto you [p.101] that I am yours in time and throughout all eternity. This blessing has
been sealed upon us by the Holy Spirit of promise, and cannot be broken only through
transgression"24 In response Heber, instinctively knowing what Vilate wanted to read,
reaffirmed that she was the love of his youth, and his first and best love for time and eternity—
exactly what a first wife in plurality would need to be told.25
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.101
Sometimes Vilate wrote poems to her husband. In the midst of the harsh winter of 1846-47 at
Winter Quarters, when living among at least twenty of Heber's other wives—several under her
own roof—she could write:
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.101
No being round the spacious earth
Beneath the vaulted arch of heaven
Divides my love, or draws it thence
From him to whom my heart is given,
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.101
Like the frail ivy to the oak
Drawn closer by the tempest riven
Through sorrows flood he'll bear me up
And light with smiles my way to heaven.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.101
The gift was on the altar laid
The plighted vow on earth was given
The seal eternal has been made
And by his side I'll reign in heaven.26
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.101
Although plural marriage is not mentioned here, several ideas that were part of the developing
Mormon theology are poetically expressed: the eternal duration of marriage, the necessity of
trials and sacrifice during the earthly existence, and the promise of a future "reign" in heaven.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.101
The last known written affirmation of Heber's special love for Vilate dates from 1849 in Utah,
when he explained plaintively and candidly what, to him at least, plural marriage was all about:
"No one can supercede you…every son and daughter that is brought forth by the wives that are
given to me will add to your glory as much as it will to them. They are given to me for this
purpose and for no other....What I have done has been done by stolen moments for the purpose to
save your feelings and that alone on the account of the love I have for You. I beg you to consider
my case as you cannot do the work that God has required of me...."27 Whether Heber likewise
reassured his plural wives of his love for them or their place in the grand scheme of things we do
not know. Secrecy, if nothing else, dictated extreme caution. Heber may have said or written
[p.102] many kind and comforting things to his other wives, but he does seem to have considered
them as "friends." In one of his rare letters to other wives (written in 1855 from Fillmore when
he was attending the territorial legislature) he wrote to Ann and Amanda Gheen, Lucy Walker,
and Sarah Ann Whitney, wives with whom he had already had eleven children and would have
fourteen more, "Now my dear friend Ann…I can say God bless Ann, Lucy, Amanda, Sarah
Ann....I do feel verry kind and tender in my heart toards you all. I have not but good in my heart
toards you all....I shall give my heart and feelings to my friends for thare reflections, for I do love
my friends. I do consider you all of that cast."
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.102
He closed this letter in an equally friendly manner. "Now this letter is for Ann, Amanda, Lucy,
Sarah Ann and fore my fine little men and Ladies that Live with you. God bless you all in the
name of Jesus Christ, amen. From your servant H. C. Kimball."28
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.102
These early letters and many documents of the Utah period clearly indicate the emotional stress,
strain, and challenge that this Old Testament social order caused in nineteenth-century America.
It is remarkable that it worked as well as it did. From the beginning Heber remained not only a
puritanical but also a reluctant polygamist. The sophisticated world, of course, does not allow for
such a thing as a "puritanical" or "reluctant" polygamist; to them it appears to be a hypocritical
contradictio in adjecto. Even so Heber was one. His devotion to Vilate and her total support of
him were even noted by travelers in Utah. A later traveler to Utah commented that Heber was
very sociable, had a "harem of twenty-five to thirty," but, "strange to say, has continued to treat
his real wife (so the story goes) as superior to the rest."29 Another visitor reported that Heber
acknowledged that Vilate was his counselor and right-hand helper. "Indeed," the visitor declared,
"I am half inclined to think that she embraced Mormonism more than her husband…she was
unmistakenly his favorite."30 Still another traveler noted that Vilate was "the wife to whom he
most deferred, and in whose wisdom he had the most implicit confidence." This same traveler
found that easy enough to believe but he was "nearly staggered" when he heard "that in plain
terms, he was her convert to the…dogma of polygamy....Paradoxical as this assertion may be, I
have repeatedly heard it made among Mormons, never with the faintest hint at a denial."31
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.102
"Dutiful" best describes his relationships with his other wives. Certainly the circumstances of his
marriages hardly suggest romance. He was pressed into his first plural union and procrastinated
over all subsequent ones—marrying most of his wives either immediately prior to the enforced
[p.103] exodus from Nauvoo or during the intense Mormon Reformation of 1856-57.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.103
Polygamy certainly never brought Heber domestic bliss; rather it created many familial
problems. Few Mormons had anywhere near the number of wives he did; only his fervent
dedication caused him to take so many. More than four-fifths of married Mormon males were
monogamists, and most polygamists had but two wives.32 Heber was no more a typical
polygamist in Utah than David and Solomon were in Judea.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.103
Rumors concerning the practice of plural marriage continued to circulate in Nauvoo. Among
those who sought to make both trouble and money out of the question of polygamy was John C.
Bennett, one-time counselor to Joseph Smith and mayor of Nauvoo, who had been
excommunicated in May, 1842, for immorality. That same year he gave some anti-Mormon
lectures and published a series of anti-Mormon articles in the Springfield, Illinois, Sangamon
Journal which were enlarged and published that same year in Boston in book form as The
History of the Saints: or, An Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism—a 344-page melange of
every kind of charge against the Mormons.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.103
To offset Bennett's writings and lectures, scores of Elders were called during the fall of 1842 to
travel throughout the country refuting Bennett's charges. Heber Kimball and Brigham Young
made a three-month preaching tour to "southern" Illinois, to Lima, Quincy, Payson, Atlas,
Pittsfield, Glasgow, Apple Creek, Jacksonville, Springfield, and Morgan City. How Heber
answered Bennett's charges of polygamy is not known, but with two pregnant wives in Nauvoo it
would have been awkward for him to deny it or argue that it existed only in a spiritual sense. He
felt good about their missionary efforts. Most of their meetings were well attended. They
baptized twelve in Lima, and Governor Thomas Carlin of Illinois attended the meeting in
Quincy. In Atlas, Mrs. William Ross, who had cared for Vilate after the Missouri expulsion,
permitted them to preach in her home. They arrived back safely on November 4, 1842.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.103
Heber remained at home in Nauvoo for the next seven months, during which time Vilate had a
new son, Charles Spaulding, born January 2, 1843; as was noted earlier, near that same time
Sarah also had a son, who lived only about nine months.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.103
Later that same winter Heber was instrumental in organizing the Young Gentlemen and Ladies
Relief Society of Nauvoo. One evening in January, 1843, a group of young people visited the
Kimball home. "The company," reported the Times and Seasons, "were lamenting the loose
[p.104] style of the morals, the frivolous manner in which they spent their time." Heber, realizing
a golden opportunity, offered to give them some instruction. At subsequent meetings he
addressed them "upon the duties of children to their parents, to society and to their God," and
encouraged them to apply "their minds with determined perseverance to all the studies
commonly deemed necessary to fit them for active life and polish them for society," and to
acquit themselves like men and women of God.33 Eventually on March 21 the society was
formed with a constitution and officers. Why Heber should have played such a central role in this
first instance of a Mormon youth organization is not immediately apparent. Probably his open,
animated personality and obvious commitment to the cause appealed to the Nauvoo teenagers.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.104
At the April, 1843, conference he was appointed to go on a mission to the eastern states, to
preach the Gospel and to collect tithing. He left Nauvoo June 10, 1843, on this seventh mission,
and returned four months later. Apparently the first part of this trip was turned into a small
family vacation, for he noted in his journal, "This day I left my home at Nauvoo in company
with my wife and fore of my children, [and] Sister [Sarah Peak] Noon....On the 11th preached at
Lima. On the 12th reached Quincy. I had a preshus time with my dear wife."34 Going on alone
he visited St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston. On this mission he
and his companion, George Smith, had occasion to travel on the Mainline Canal between
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. While Heber was atop the boat observing the scenery, about a dozen
Baptist ministers, returning from a conference, cornered George in the main cabin and were very
abusive of him and his faith. After a while Heber went back to the cabin in time to come to his
companion's aid. He began by announcing that he had been a Baptist himself once for three
weeks, but at that time, he recalled, Baptist ministers had been gentlemen. After putting the
tormentors in their place he then proceeded to bait them by quoting as scripture things he knew
were not in the Bible. When the Baptists challenged him he gravely turned to George and said,
"Will you find that passage?" As George pretended to search, the ministers, to save face,
suddenly remembered the passages."35
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.104
During this absence he and Vilate exchanged seven letters. Two (already noted) are very tender
and reinforce their mutual love. In other letters he told of a healing in Cincinnati, of his suffering
with the "cholera morbus" (gastroenteritis), influenza, and a bowel complaint, of how kind
people in general had been, how he missed his family, that he needed their prayers, and that he
had not been very successful in raising funds. He also had bought some clothes for the family.
One member of the church, he [p.105] told Vilate, wanted to know if she was "very dressy," to
which Heber replied "quite so." He also told Vilate that he was getting her something out of
black silk, and then prudently added that she should keep this to herself—it would be just as well
that Sarah, his other wife, didn't know about the new gowns.36
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.105
He arrived back in Nauvoo safely four months later, on October 22, and turned over what
moneys he had to Joseph Smith. Heber now had another seven months at home before being
called on his eighth and last mission. "I remained in Nauvoo all winter," he related, "enjoying the
teachings of the Prophet, attending councils, prayer meetings…preaching in Nauvoo and
Branches round about, and doing all I could to strengthen the hands of the First Presidency."37
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.105
That December Joseph permitted a few of his most faithful followers, those who had proven
themselves in many ways, to receive their second anointing or endowment in the temple. Among
those so honored were Heber Kimball, Brigham Young, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Willard
Richards, Wilford Woodruff, and their first wives.38 When Heber and Vilate had originally
received their temple endowments during May, 1842, all of their blessings were conditional.
Through the second anointing their blessings were no longer conditional, but actual (although
they were not to be effected, for the most part, until the next life). This unusual doctrine appears
to be connected with Peter's admonition "to make your calling and election sure" (2 Peter 1: 10).
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.105
That same winter there were also plenty of parties, balls, and concerts. Plays, in which members
of the Kimball family participated, were presented in the Masonic Hall. The first drama, in fact
the inauguration of theatre among the Mormons, presented April 24, 1844, as a project to raise
money to help Joseph Smith pay off his Missouri debts, was Pizarro or the Death of Rolla.
Written by the German playwright Augustus yon Kotzebue, and titled Die Spanier in Peru oder
Rollas Tod, the play had been popular in Europe, England, and America for nearly fifty years
before it was produced in Nauvoo.39
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.105
Brigham Young played the High Priest, a nonspeaking but important part. A "Mr. Kimball" was
one of the nine Spaniards (spear carriers) in the play.40 It is most unlikely that this was Heber,
but possibly it was his son William, then nineteen years old. Even Heber's sixteen-year-old
daughter, Helen, despite the generally low opinion of females in the theatre at that time, played
one of the chorus of virgins in the production. Since Joseph Smith considered the theatre to be
good and useful, all Mormons have felt free to enjoy it and practice its art. The same amateur
company produced several other dramas that season, one of which was the Orphan of Geneva,
[p.106] in which Helen was called upon at the last moment to substitute as the Countess. And
thus passed a relatively peaceful winter.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.106
Politics were also much discussed in Nauvoo in 1844, an election year. The Mormons debated
about whether to support the Democrat, ex-president Martin Van Buren, or the Whig, Henry
Clay, the "Great Compromiser," for president. Both candidates had refused to do anything to
help the Mormons secure redress for Missouri's wrongs. Out of this dilemma came a proposal to
establish an independent electoral ticket and nominate Joseph Smith as a candidate for the
presidency. This was done at the annual April conference, and on May 17, a convention was held
in Nauvoo at which Heber and 343 Elders were appointed to go through the states and present
the name of Joseph Smith and his views on the powers and policies of government in the United
States. Naturally, Heber was in the middle of these discussions and, as one of the church's
seasoned preachers, participated in the electioneering campaign.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.106
In May he left to stump for Joseph and to petition in Washington, D.C., for help in securing
justice from Missouri. Helen, William, and Vilate accompanied him to the steamer Osprey for
his overnight trip to St. Louis. It was understood that Vilate should later meet him in
Philadelphia and that Helen would come too if possible. "Come with your ma if you can," he told
Helen at the wharf, "but I beg you not to stand in the way of her coming, but do all you can to
help her off."41
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.106
During his layover between vessels in St. Louis, Heber sent some supplies to his family,
recording the following purchases in his journal:42
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.106
24 P[ounds] of Chugar
2.00
15 P Coffee 1.50
4 Pounds of rasons .60
1/2 half bushel of aples
.60
8 Pounds of lump chugar
1.00
15 Pounds of chugar 1.00
4 P of solaratus [saleratus, baking soda]
.40
1/2 Pound of Tea
.31
One Quarter [pound] nutmeg .37
One Pound of nuts
.25
One dozen of Lemmons
.18
2 Packs nives fore boys
.25
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.106
On June 3 under some potted palms in the foyer of the National Hotel in Washington, D.C.,
Congressman Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois called on Heber. "Ses he will do anny thing fore us
that we wish," Heber wrote [p.107] home. "He ses he will give me an introduction to sevrel of
the Congressmen. To day he ses thare is no prjudis of army acount toards us in this place. He ses
all thare is is among the ignerant class."43 Douglas, however, was merely being polite. Nothing
came of Heber's visit and petition.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.107
Heber's last letters home are full of indignation at Washington's indifference. "We will," he wrote
portentously to Helen, "go where we can find a home and worship God in his own way and enjoy
our rights as free citizens, and it will not be long. Now my daughter I have spoken plain to you
…you must not show this letter to anny but our family."44 Little good came from this mission.
At the same time much more important personal and political events were taking place back
home in Nauvoo. Vilate's letters enable us to relive some of that excitement and tragedy.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.107
She wrote that Sarah was sick with a "nervous headache," and that she herself had an upset
stomach and could not eat much, and that "I am so sick and faint that I cannot set up a good deal
of the time....There is cause for this," she added, "which cause you will no doubt rejoice in. A
hint to you is sufficient."45 Seven months later, January 29, 1845, her sixth son, Brigham
Willard, was born.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.107
Of vaster significance to the community, and thus to the Kimballs, was the explosive Expositor
affair. Several disaffected Mormons set up an opposition newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor, and
succeeded in printing one issue, that of June 7, 1844. The editors declared "many items of
[Mormon] doctrine…heretical and damnable" and sought "to explode the vicious principles of
Joseph Smith." Joseph and most church leaders were outraged and the marshal was ordered to
destroy the printing press, scatter the type, and burn all the copies of the Expositor he could find.
Such interference with the freedom of the press created a sensation and was the beginning of the
end of Nauvoo.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.107
Vilate reported this to Heber and said that Joseph had written letters to all the Twelve advising
them to return to Nauvoo as quickly as possible, and guessed she would have to give up her trip
to the East. (That was her last chance: she never did return to her people in Victor.) Vilate
reported that troops looking for Joseph had been sent by Governor Thomas Ford to Nauvoo, and
that Joseph had fled across the river to Montrose, Iowa, leaving word for the brethren to hang on
to their arms and take care of themselves as best they could. "Some were tried, almost to death,"
she added, "to think Joseph should leave them in the hour of danger....I have not felt
frightened…neither has my heart sunk within me, until yesterday, when I heard Joseph had sent
word back for his family to follow him."46 Vilate's fears were shared by many Latter-day Saints.
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.108
[p.108] The traditional account of why Joseph Smith gave up freedom in Iowa and took instead
the road to Carthage and martyrdom is that he gave in to taunts of cowardice and the requests of
his family to return. His utterance "If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of none to myself"
is famous.47 This may all be true, but a letter of Vilate's suggests a much more important reason,
and expresses the feelings of the Saints for their Prophet as well as their fears for the future:
"Joseph went over the river out of the United States, and there stopped and composed his mind,
and got the will of the Lord concerning him, and that was, that he should return and give himself
up for trial....They have just passed by here....My heart said Lord bless those dear men, and
preserve them from those that thirst for their blood. Their giving themselves up, is all that will
save our city from destruction...."48
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.108
At about twenty-one minutes past four on the afternoon of June 27, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, in
the Carthage jail awaiting trial, were murdered by an anti-Mormon mob. Three days later Vilate
wrote to Heber:
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.108
Never before did I take up my pen to address you under so trying circumstances as we are now
placed, but as Mr. Adams the bearer of this can tell you more than I can write, I shall not attempt
to describe the scene that we have passed through. God forbid that I should ever witness another
like unto it. I saw the lifeless corpse[s] of our beloved brethren when they were brought to their
almost distracted families. Yes, I witnessed their tears, and groans, which was enough to rend the
heart of an adamant. Every brother and sister that witnessed the scene felt deeply to sympathize
with them. Yea, every heart is filled with sorrow, and the very streets of Nauvoo seem to mourn.
Where it will end the Lord only knows. We are kept awake night after night by the alarm of
mobs. Those apostates say, their damnation is sealed, their die is cast, their doom is fixed and
they are determined to do all in their power to have revenge. [William] Law says he wants nine
more, that was in his quorum. Some times I am afraid he will get them. I have no doubt but you
are one....
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.108
I have felt opposed to their sending for you to come home at present....I have no doubt but your
life will be sought, but may the Lord give you wisdom to escape their hands.49
Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball, p.108
On the day of the assassination, Heber was traveling from Philadelphia to New York and
unaccountably felt very sorrowful and depressed in spirit. It was not until July 9, however, while
in Salem, Massachusetts, that he first learned of the murders. "The papers were full of News of
the death of our Prophet," he confided in his journal. "I was not willen to believe it. Fore it was
to[o] much to bare....It struck me at the heart."50 [p.109] From Salem, along with Brigham
Young, Parley P. Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, and Lyman Wight, Heber started the sad return to
Nauvoo. [p.113]