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Children of Joseph Smith, Jr.

The children of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his wife Emma Smith, are historically significant because of their roles in establishing and leading the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now called the Community of Christ). Although Joseph Smith, Jr. publicly condemned polygamy, the predominant view among secular and religious historians is that Smith had polygamous "spiritual" marriages to many women; however, no children of these women have ever been proven to be Smith's. There is ongoing genetic research to see if any of the children that have been alleged as Smith's have his genetic markers. However, all of the tests have been negative, and some of the potential candidates have been ruled out. Not all of the proposed children can be tested with current technology because Y-DNA genetic testing for non-male lines is not possible.

Children born to Emma Hale Smith

Child	Lifespan	Notes
Alvin Smith	June 15, 1828 – June 15, 1828
Thaddeus Smith	April 30, 1831 – April 30, 1831	Twin of Louisa, premature
Louisa Smith	April 30, 1831 – April 30, 1831	Twin of Thaddeus, premature
Joseph Smith*	May 1, 1831 – May 10, 1831	*Adopted. Twin of Julia, birth son of Julia Clapp Murdock and John Murdock who upon his wife's death in childbirth gave the infants to the Smith's for adoption
Julia Murdock Smith*	May 1, 1831 – September 12, 1880	*Adopted. Twin of Joseph, birth son of Julia Clapp Murdock and John Murdock
Joseph Smith III	November 6, 1832 – December 10, 1914	Prophet-President of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), opponent of polygamy
Frederick Granger Williams Smith	June 29, 1836 – April 13, 1862
Alexander Hale Smith	June 2, 1838 – 1909	Senior leader of the RLDS Church, opponent of polygamy
David Hyrum Smith	November 17, 1844 – 1904	born after Smith's death, active in the RLDS Church, opponent of polygamy

Children born to alleged polygamous wives

No children of Smith's alleged polygamous relationships has been shown, to a scholarly consensus, to have been Smith's genetic offspring. However, Wilhelm Ritter von Wymetal, a "vitriolic anti-Mormon journalist", recorded in an 1886 interview with Sarah Pratt that Smith had John C. Bennett, a medical doctor, always on hand when anything happened. Although repeated by a Bennett biographer in 1971, the merits of this allegation have not yet received significant scholarly examination either by Mormon or secular scholars.

The following table lists some of the children born to Smith's alleged polygamous wives as well as those ruled out by genetic testing:

Child	Date of birth	Mother	Father	DNA testing status	DNA testing result	Notes
Oliver Buell	1838 – 39	Presendia Huntington Buell	Norman Buell	Complete (November 2007)	Negative	Historian Fawn Brodie was certain Buell was a polygamous son of Joseph Smith.
John Reed Hancock	April 19, 1841	Clarissa Reed Hancock	Levi Hancock	Incomplete	?	Only anecdotal evidence that Clarissa Reed Hancock was a plural wife of Joseph Smith.
Mosiah Hancock	?	Clarissa Reed Hancock	Levi Hancock	Complete (November 2007)	Negative	Only anecdotal evidence that Clarissa Reed Hancock was a plural wife of Joseph Smith.
Frank Henry Hyde	January 23, 1845, 1846?	Marinda Johnson Hyde	Orson Hyde	Incomplete	?
Orson Washington Hyde	November 9, 1843	Marinda Johnson Hyde	Orson Hyde	Not possible (died in infancy)	?
Zebulon Jacobs	January 2, 1842	Zina Huntington Jacobs	Henry Jacobs	Complete (May 2005)	Negative
Algernon Lightner	March 22, 1842	Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner	Adam Lightner	Not possible (died in infancy)	?
Josephine Rosetta Lyon	February 8, 1844	Sylvia Porter Sessions Lyon	Windsor Lyon	Incomplete	?	Mother told her on deathbed that Josephine was Smith's daughter.
Moroni Pratt	December 7, 1844	Mary Ann Frost Pratt	Parley P. Pratt	Complete (May 2005)	Negative