Elvira Holmes (November 23, 1813 - March 10, 1871) joined the Church in 1835 at the age of 22. Her father Austin Cowles had joined earlier.
Austin moved his family to Nauvoo in 1840 where Elvira gained employment at the Smith residence.
It was there she met Joseph Smith's long time friend Jonathan Holmes, to whom she was married (by Joseph) and with whom she bore two children. Six months after her marriage to Jonathan, Elvira was sealed to Joseph. Jonathan deeply resented that his children with Elvira would be given to Joseph in the Celestial Kingdom.
Elvira's father Austin disaffected from the Church and helped with the Nauvoo Expositor, the paper denouncing Joseph's secret polygamy and contributing to the local anger felt towards Joseph.
Elvira moved out west with the saints. Her husband Jonathan married his second wife, Sarah Ingersoll Harvey Lloyd, in 1862.
Elvira died in Farmington, Utah.
I came across your blog doing some family history research. Do you have any written sources you can share for the following sentence from your post, "Elvira Annie Cowles Holmes (Smith) - wife #29" -
ReplyDelete"Jonathan deeply resented that his children with Elvira would be given to Joseph in the Celestial Kingdom."
I was unable to find any contact information for you on the blog and am using the Comments section in hopes of reaching you.
That last paragraph here suggests he was very okay with the sealing: http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/elvira-annie-cowles/
DeleteI find it hard to believe that a mentally healthy human being wouldn't struggle with this kind of proposition.
You might also like this podcast: http://www.yearofpolygamy.com/year-of-polygamy/year-of-polygamy-elvira-cowles-holmes-episode-28/