Vilate kimball biography of martin

Mormon leader (1839–1883)

David Patten Kimball (August 23, 1839 – November 21, 1883) was an early Mormon leader, one of the three young men of the Sweetwater handcart rescue.

Kimball was born on August 23, 1839, in Nauvoo, Illinois the son of Heber C. Kimball and his wife the former Vilate Murray. His father was an Apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and left to serve a mission in England about the time of David's birth.

In the winter of 1856, Kimball helped a company of handcart pioneers stranded near the Sweetwater River, in response to a request from Brigham Young. Several accounts of the event imply that Young promised Kimball and others a guaranteed place in heaven for their efforts, although no direct evidence attributing this statement to Young exist.

Kimball served as president of the Bear Lakestake in Utah before moving to Arizona in 1877. He was a teamster, and when he died he was first counselor in the St. Joseph stake.

In November 1881, Kimball was making a freight run between Maricopa railroad station and Prescott when he was caught in a snowstorm near Prescott and contracted pneumonia. On the return trip, he became separated from his traveling companion and wagon and got lost in the Salt River valley south of Wickenburg. He spent four days in the desert with no food or water. During this time, he reported seeing a vision in which his deceased father warned him to get his life in order, and that he had only two years to live. Kimball had doubted Mormonism for over a decade. His traveling companion assembled a search party, and they found Kimball near present-day Surprise.

Kimball died at the age of 44 on November 21, 1883, in St. David, Arizona.

Notable descendants

Lineage: Heber C. Kimball -(Vilate Murray Kimball)- David Patten Kimball - Quince Kimball - LaVon Kimball - Elden Clifford Kimball - Lynda Diane Kimball Richards - John Adair

Perhaps no other aspect of Joseph Smith’s life has stirred controversy like the practice of plural marriage. Since its inception, both Latter-day Saints and members of other faiths have puzzled over polygamy and its complicated beginnings. Though the Church discontinued the practice over a century ago, polygamy continues to invite criticism from outside and questions from within the Latter-day Saint community. The fact that Joseph Smith was sealed to several younger women adds another layer of intrigue to an already difficult story. In this essay, the experience of one Latter-day Saint woman illuminates the spiritual world of the 1840s and provides insight into this complex topic.

Helen Mar Kimball Whitney (1828-96), Salt Lake City. (Courtesy of Church History Library, Salt Lake City.)

In the single month of May 1843, Joseph Smith married four brides under the age of twenty. The youngest, Helen Mar Kimball, was fourteen.[1] Of Joseph Smith’s plural wives, in fact, at least nine or ten were what would now be called “teenage” (the term was not widely used until the twentieth century) when they married the Prophet.[2] Since evidence for physical intimacy between Joseph Smith and some of his wives is compelling, the question of sexual contact with the youngest wives ignites controversy in print and across the Internet. Further complicating the picture of Joseph Smith’s relationship with his young wives is the fact that Helen Mar Kimball Whitney experienced considerable pressure to consent to the marriage

Martin Harris is known for being a Book of Mormon scribe, witness, and financier. However, little is known about his activities while living in Kirtland, Ohio, for over thirty-five years. This article will present what is known about Harris during the Kirtland years. Included will be his relationship to other Restoration churches under the leadership of James J. Strang (including Harris’s mission to England), William E. McLellin, and so forth. A brief background of Harris’s life in New York will also be given to help understand his place in the early life of the church. 

Martin Harris was born on 18 May 1783 at Eastown, New York. He was a well-established farmer of Palmyra, Ontario (later Wayne) County, New York. At the age of twenty-six, Harris married his cousin Lucy; he was nine years her senior. They had a family of four known children. He became a close associate of Joseph Smith, Jr., whom he assisted financially, and he acted as a scribe to Smith.[1] He also financed the publication of the Book of Mormon by mortgaging his farm. As an early convert of Mormonism, he was received into fellowship by baptism on the day the church was organized. Due to the time and resources spent on his new religion, Harris became partially separated from his wife, Lucy. 

Orsamus Turner, a printer in New York, described Harris thusly: 

Martin Harris, was a farmer of Palmyra, the owner of a good farm, and an honest worthy citizen; but especially given to religious enthusiasm, new creeds, the more extravagant the better; a monomaniac, in fact.[2]

Harris resided on Palmyra Road, District 9, from 1808-1822. He was the overseer of his district for the years 1811, 1813-15, and 1820. From 1826 to 1829, he is listed in district 13 as the overseer for 1825,1827, and 1829.[3]

In 1870, Martin recounted his early ideas about religion, dating back to about 1818: 

I was Inspired of the Lord & [taught] o

I’m not sure if it’s dramatic irony or religious truth, but some of the very principals and teachings that I learned as a Mormon are the ones that led me out of it.

I grew up hearing stories of historical figures such as Martin Harris, Heber C Kimball, Thomas Marsh and William Law.  The first two, Harris and Kimball, are well known in Mormonism for placing what they considered religious truth above the concerns of their wives and family.

Harris and his wife separated and divorced because of their disagreement over the legitimacy of Joseph Smith and the “Golden Plates.”  Harris had even mortgaged his family farm to help Smith publish the Book of Mormon putting his wife into financial hardship. As such, Harris is held up as a faithful hero in Priesthood, Sunday School and Seminary lessons.  Not once had I ever heard even the slightest twinge of questioning whether leaving his family behind to follow Joseph Smith or for his understanding of the truth was the right thing to do.

After all, Joseph Smith himself had eloped with his first wife, Emma, against the wishes of her father.  From the beginning, “Family First” was not the expectation or the example from Mormon leaders.

A less well-known historical incident involved Heber C Kimball, his wife Vilate, and their daughter Helen Mar Kimball.  Joseph Smith had approached Heber at two different times to hand over these two women to him as his plural wives.  In the case of Heber’s wife Vilate, after 3 days agonizing over the decision Heber agreed to give his wife to Joseph. Heber is even praised in Mormon folklore for passing Joseph’s Abrahamic-like test because in the end, that’s all it was…just a godly test to see if Heber would give his wife to the prophet…and what an honorable man that he would…just like Abraham would kill his son for God.

Heber’s young daughter, Helen, didn’t fare so well. At the age