Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is generally understood by historians to have had between about 30 and 40 wives, depending on which sources and criteria you use.

Quick Scoop

  • Most mainstream historical estimates put the number of Joseph Smith’s wives in the low- to mid-30s (often “at least 33–34”).
  • A widely cited church-linked admission stated he had “as many as 40” wives when including sealings that may have been only for the afterlife.
  • Modern compiled lists of all alleged wives (including disputed or poorly documented ones) can go up to 49 names , though not all are universally accepted by scholars.
  • Historians agree his first and public wife was Emma Hale Smith , with the rest being plural marriages, many performed secretly in Nauvoo in the early 1840s.

So, if you’re looking for a concise answer to “how many wives did Joseph Smith have”:

A careful, commonly cited range is around 30–40 wives , with about 33–34 seen as a conservative minimum and up to 40 acknowledged in official church essays, while expanded historical lists suggest as many as 49 alleged spouses.

Why the numbers differ

  • Some women were “sealed” to him only for the next life, and not all researchers count those the same way.
  • A number of marriages were secret and poorly documented , so evidence is uneven and sometimes contested.
  • Different projects and lists (apologetic, critical, academic) choose different standards of proof , leading to totals in the 30s, 40s, or higher.

A typical “middle ground” summary used in many discussions today: Joseph Smith had at least about 30 plural wives, probably mid-30s, and possibly close to 40 when all sealings are counted.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.