Editing Mormonism and polygamy (section)

===Joseph Smith===
{{See also|List of Joseph Smith's wives}}Among historians, there is disagreement as to the precise number of wives Smith married.<ref>{{Harvnb|Remini|2002|p=153}}.</ref> [[D. Michael Quinn]] reports 46,<ref>{{Harvnb|Quinn|1994|p=587}}.</ref> [[George D. Smith]] 38,<ref>{{Harvnb|Smith|2010|p=621}}.</ref> [[Todd M. Compton]] 33 (plus eight "possible wives"),<ref>{{harvnb|Compton|1997|pp=4–10}}.</ref> and Stewart Davenport 37.<ref>{{harvnb|Davenport|2022|p=139}}.</ref>

It is unclear with how many of the wives Smith had [[sexual relations]]. Some contemporary accounts from Smith's time indicate that he engaged in sexual relations with some of his wives.<ref name="Harvnb|Compton|1997" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=2014-11-11 |title=Mormon church polygamy: Joseph Smith 'had up to 40 wives' |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30009324 |access-date=2023-04-20}}</ref> {{As of|2007}}, there were at least twelve early [[Latter Day Saints]] who, based on historical documents and circumstantial evidence, had been identified as potential Smith offspring stemming from polygamous marriages. In 2005 and 2007 studies, a geneticist with the [[Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation]] stated that they had shown "with 99.9 percent accuracy" that five of these individuals were in fact not Smith descendants: Mosiah Hancock (son of Clarissa Reed Hancock), Oliver Buell (son of Prescindia Huntington Buell), Moroni Llewellyn Pratt (son of Mary Ann Frost Pratt), Zebulon Jacobs (son of [[Zina D. H. Young|Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith]]), and Orrison Smith (son of [[Fanny Alger]]).<ref name="DMNdna">{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Carrie |date=November 10, 2007 |title=DNA tests rule out 2 as Smith descendants |work=Deseret Morning News |url=http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695226318,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113034023/http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695226318,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 13, 2007 |access-date=2014-04-15}}</ref> The remaining seven have yet to be conclusively tested, including Josephine Lyon, for whom current DNA testing using [[mitochondrial DNA]] cannot provide conclusive evidence either way. Lyon's mother, Sylvia Sessions Lyon, left her daughter a deathbed affidavit telling her she was Smith's daughter.<ref name="DMNdna" />