Already-married Esther Dutcher Smith bore a son she named "Joseph" on 21 September 1844, sometime after she was "sealed to Joseph the Prophet in the days of Nauvoo, before he died. Joseph's martyrdom on 27 June 1844 occurred when she was six-months pregnant. Daniel H. Wells wrote that Esther "nearly broke his heart by telling him [her legal husband] of it, and expressing her intention of adhering to that relationship" with Joseph Smith. This showed that she was sealed at Nauvoo without the knowledge of her legal husband, a faithful Mormon there. Even though Esther's husband eventually "got to feeling better over it"--seven years after Joseph's death --and "had her sealed to him, and to himself for time,"
["Daniel H. Wells, Letter to Joseph F. Smith, June 25, 1888, MS 1325, Box 16, fd. 9, LDS Church History Library, in Turley, Selected Collections, Vol. 1, DVD #29", referenced in "Evidence For The Sexual Side of Joseph Smith's Polygamy," Comments by D. Michael Quinn on Session #2A "Reconsidering Joseph Smith's Marital Practices," Mormon History Association's Annual Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 29 June 2012 (unabbreviated version, revised during July)]
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