Levira Annette Smith

Marriage:

"...On 5 April 1859, [Joseph F.] Smith married his sixteen-year-old cousin Levira Annette Clark Smith (29 April 1842 Nauvoo, Illinois- 18 December 1888 St. Louis, Missouri), daughter of Samuel Harrison Smith. He and Levira had no children. Seven years later, Brigham Young directed him to take a plural wife. Levira was never able to adapt to Plural marriage and obtained a divorce in 1868 "due to interference on the part of relatives, and because of the continued absence of her husband in mission fields and in ecclesiastical duties..."

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'Joseph F. Smith', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 23 May 2011, 14:12 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_F._Smith&oldid=430...> [accessed 25 May 2011]

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Levira Annette Smith was born April 29, 1842, in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, to Samuel Harrison Smith and Levira or Lurinda Clark Smith, however, her father died just two years later in 1844. She was living in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, in the 1850 U.S. Federal Census, along with her mother and a family of fellow LDS Church members, Samuel Walker West and his wife Margaret Cooper West and their children. They were listed as follows in the census record: Samuel, 46, farmer, Margaret, 46, John, 19, Susan, 16, Emma, 14, Margaret, 12, Lydia, 10, William, 8, Nancy Malinda West (my 2nd great grandmother), Levira, 36, and her daughter, Levira Annette Smith, 9 years old. It is believed that Levira and her mother traveled from Iowa to the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah with the West family in about 1852. Levira Annette's mother passed away in January, 1883, in Salt Lake City, and was listed as the widow of Samuel Harrison Smith at the time of her death.

Levira Annette Smith married her cousin, Joseph Fielding Smith, on April 5, 1859, in Salt Lake City, at the age of 16. Joseph F. Smith was the President of the LDS church and the son of Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith, Jr's. brother. Levira and Joseph Fielding Smith had no children. Seven years later when Joseph took a plural wife, Levira was not able to adapt to plural marriage and obtained a divorce in 1868, "due to interference on the part of relatives, and because of the continued absence of her husband in the mission fields and in ecclesiastical duties."

Levira Annette Smith, passed away in December, 1888, in St. Louis, Missouri. Why she returned to the Midwest is unknown, unless perhaps she had other members of her mother's family living in that area at the time.

Daughter of Samuel Harrison Smith and Levira/Lurinda Clark

Levira died either in 1859 or 1888?

Levira died either in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah or St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri?

Wife of President Joseph Fielding Smith , married 4 Apr 1859 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, UT

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Oct 6 2017, 19:42:39 UTC