Sarah M. Cleveland


Sarah Marietta Kingsley Cleveland 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 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. 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 Cleveland by advice, was sealed to the prophet in Nauvoo but lived with her husband John Cleveland.” Sarah was also resealed to Joseph Smith vicariously in the Nauvoo Temple in 1846.