THE CHILDREN OF JOSEPH SMITH AND DNA
RESEARCH
(Last Updated: November 2008)
Because Joseph Smith practiced polygamy in relative secrecy, the details of
children he may have fathered by his plural wives is uncertain. In a
1905 speech at Brigham Young University, Joseph's wife, Mary Elizabeth Rollins explained, "I
know he [Joseph] had six wives and I have known some of them from childhood
up. I know he had three children. They told me. I think two
are living today but they are not known as his children as they go by other
names." ("Remarks", April 14, 1905, BYU Lee Library).
Josephine Lyon, daughter of Sylvia
Sessions Lyon, wrote, “Just prior to my mothers
death in 1882 she called me to her bedside and told me that her days were
numbered and before she passed away from mortality she desired to tell me
something which she had kept as an entire secret from me and from all others
but which she now desired to communicate to me. She then told me that I
was the daughter of the Prophet Joseph Smith”.
As with Josephine, these children were most likely borne by women who already
had a husband when they married Joseph Smith, and may have been raised using
the first husband’s surname. Still, questions remain regarding who
these children may have been.
Today, DNA science may be providing answers. One method of doing this
is by tracing a portion of the Y Chromosome, which remains essentially unchanged
as it passes from father to son. By analyzing the DNA of a male
descendant, the paternity of the ancestor can be determined.
Although Y Chromosome testing is extremely useful in cases involving unbroken
paternal lineages, it cannot be used to identify alleged daughters, such as
Josephine Lyon, that Joseph Smith may have fathered. To understand
these cases, complex
genetic testing involving autosomal DNA (the DNA found in the remaining chromosomes)
is required.
Historians have previously identified eight possible children of Joseph Smith
borne by his plural wives. As of November 2007, DNA testing has shown
that three of these eight children were not fathered by Joseph Smith.
Two other children died as infants and therefore left no posterity.
DNA testing is underway or remains a possiblity
for the the remaining three. They are listed
below, along with the traditionally recognized mother and father:
Josephine Lyon (Birth: February 8, 1844)
Mother: Sylvia Sessions Lyon
Father: Windsor Lyon
Frank Henry Hyde (Birth: January 23, 1845, 1846?)
Mother: Marinda
Johnson Hyde
Father: Orson Hyde
John Reed Hancock (Birth: April 19, 1841)
Mother: Clarissa Reed Hancock
Father: Levi Hancock
DIED AS INFANTS::
George Algernon Lightner (Birth: March 22,
1842)
Mother: Mary Rollins Lightner
Father: Adam Lightner
Orson Washington Hyde (Birth: November 9, 1843)
Mother: Marinda
Johnson Hyde
Father: Orson Hyde
DNA TESTING COMPLETE:
Moroni Pratt (Birth: December 7,
1844)
Mother: Mary Ann Frost
Father: Parley P. Pratt (confirmed via
DNA research - May 2005)
Zebulon Jacobs (Birth: January 2, 1842)
Mother: Zina Huntington Jacobs
Father: Henry Jacobs (confirmed via
DNA research – May 2005)
Oliver Buell (Birth: 1838 – 39)
Mother: Presendia Huntington Buell
Father: Norman Buell
(confirmed via
DNA research – November 2007)
NOTE: Presently, there is only anecdotal evidence that Clarissa Reed Hancock
(Mother of John Reed Hancock) was a plural wife of Joseph Smith. DNA
testing would shed further light in this regard. The year of Frank
Henry Hyde's birth is uncertain. An 1846 birthdate
would eliminate him as a possible child of Joseph Smith (See "The Orson
Hyde Genealogy", Utah Genealogical Magazine and Historical, April 1913,
pg 60 and "ISL", pg 535, fn 41).
At the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, Dr. Scott R. Woodward and Ugo A. Perego are using DNA
techniques to better understand the paternity issues related to possible
children of Joseph Smith. This genetic testing was part of several
special projects designed to help the general public recognize the value of
DNA in family history research.
"Reconstructing The Y-Chromosome of Joseph Smith", a paper
detailing their research was presented at the Mormon History Association Conference May
28, 2005 and was also published in the Summer 2005
Journal of Mormon History (Vol 32, No 2). The paper discusses the
paternities of Moroni Pratt (Mary Ann Frost) and
Zebulon Jacobs (Zina Huntington Jacobs)
as well as a claimed descendency through Fanny Alger, and concludes that none of these
three were Joseph Smith's children.
Ongoing research includes evaluation of Josephine Lyon (Sylvia Sessions Lyon) autosomal DNA. "Hundreds of DNA samples from
male and female descendants of both Josephine Lyon and Joseph Smith have been
collected and are being analyzed with the objective of identifying
lineage-specific markers..." (Perego,
Woodward, Journal of Mormon History, Vol 32, No.2 fn
39). In January 2004, Descendants
of Josephine participating in this study indicated the research is
"promising" in confirming Josephine as a daughter of Joseph
Smith. An August 2008 “Mormon
Times” article indicates, “…they should know in the ‘next year or so’”.
The researchers are also hoping to
study the other possible children of Joseph Smith and welcome the involvement
of descendants.
These special projects were conducted as independent studies by both
researchers and are not part of the Foundation's main goals and objectives.
For more information about the work of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy
Foundation, please visit http://www.smgf.org
For more information regarding the Joseph Smith DNA project, contact:
Ugo Perego
Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation
2511 South West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
Phone: (801) 461-9775
Email:
ugo@smgf.org
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