Sarah M. Cleveland

Sarah M. Cleveland
First Counselor of the General Presidency of the Relief Society
March 17, 1842 (1842-03-17) – 1844
Called by	Emma Smith
Successor	Zina D. H. Young
Personal details
Born	Sarah Marietta Kingsley (1788-10-20)October 20, 1788 Becket, Massachusetts, United States
Died	1856[1] Plymouth, Illinois, United States[1]
Spouse(s)	John Howe[1] John Cleveland
Parents	Ebenezer Kingsley

Sarah Marietta Kingsley Cleveland (October 20, 1788 - 1856[1]) was the first counselor to Emma Smith in the presidency of the Relief Society from 1842 to 1844.

Cleveland was born in Becket, Berkshire County, Massachusetts[2] to Ebenezer Kingsley. She was married to John Cleveland and later to the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith. Her husband was a judge in Nauvoo, Illinois, and unlike her did not join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; he was a Swedenborgian. Cleveland remained in Nauvoo with her husband when the main body of the Latter Day Saints moved to what later became Utah Territory.

Marriage to Joseph Smith

A letter from John L. Smith, Sarah Kingsley’s son-in-law, to the First Presidency, dated March 8, 1895, states: "In the days of Joseph. Mother [Sarah M. Kingsley (Howe)] Cleveland by advice, was sealed to the prophet in Nauvoo but lived with her [non-LDS] husband John Cleveland." Sarah was also resealed to Joseph Smith vicariously in the Nauvoo Temple in 1846.[3]

Sources

1. "BYU Studies: Biographical Registers - C". Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
2. Madsen, Carol Cornwall (1994). In Their Own Words: Women and the Story of Navoo. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book. p. 120. ISBN 0-875797709.
3. Brian Hales, "Sarah Kingsley", Joseph Smith's Polygamy.

• Encyclopedia of Mormonism p. 1635.
• 2005 Deseret Morning News Church Alamanac (Deseret Morning News: Salt Lake City, Utah, 2004) p. 115
• Jenson, Andrew (1936). Latter-day Saint biographical encyclopedia: A compilation of biographical sketches of prominent men and women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Vol. 4. Salt Lake City, Utah: The Andrew Jenson Memorial Association (Printed by The Deseret News Press). pp. 5796 183. ISBN 1-58958-026-5. Retrieved December 20, 2011.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints titles
First	First Counselor in the general presidency of the Relief Society 1842 – 1844	Vacant Title next held by Zina D. H. Young as First Counselor in the general presidency of the Relief Society of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints