May 1843 - Joseph Smith (Age: 37) married Sarah Lawrence (Age: 17), and her sister Maria Lawrence (Age: 19).
"When Joseph Smith visited Canada in August of 1837 he converted to the church, Edward and Margaret Lawrence and their daughters Sarah and Maria. The Lawrence family subsequently journeyed to Illinois, arriving in 1840. Sarah and Maria’s father, Edward, passed away soon after their arrival. In 1842, Sarah and Maria, sixteen and eighteen years-old, began living in Joseph Smith’s home, perhaps as hired help like Emily and Eliza Partridge who were also living at the Smith residence." (In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith pgs 474,475)
"In the summer of 1842 rumors circulated in Nauvoo regarding Joseph Smith’s polygamy. Joseph published a statement in his own defense: “We are charged with advocating a plurality of wives...now this is as false as the many other ridiculous charges which are brought against us. No sect has a great reverence for the laws of matrimony...we practice what we preach.” Several of Joseph’s close associates also published a proclamation that Joseph “is a good, moral, virtuous...man [and bore] testimony of the iniquity of those who had [made false statements about] Pres. J Smith’s character”. One of those defending Joseph was William Law, Joseph’s counselor in the First Presidency. William had been a family friend of the Lawrence’s in Canada. He was unaware of Joseph’s polygamy, or that Joseph had just married his sixteenth wife, Sarah Ann Whitney." (Mormon Polygamy: A History pgs 33,36; In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith pg 476)
"In the spring of 1843, Joseph married Sarah and Maria. A friend of Maria’s in Nauvoo recalls, “...[Maria] suffered her doubts, her fears, her uncertainty as to whether she was acting right or wrong, for she had a conscience and wanted to be right”, and also remembers Maria saying: “...if there was any truth in Mormonism she would be saved for...My yoke has not been easy nor my burden light.”" (In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith pgs 475,479; Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith pg 144)
"By October 1843, William Law became aware that Joseph was indeed practicing polygamy. He didn’t agree with the doctrine, or its secret practice, and tried to get Joseph to abandon it. William, “with his arms around the neck of the Prophet...[and] tears streaming down his face...pleaded with him to withdraw the doctrine of plural marriage.” Joseph said he couldn’t, and released William from the First Presidency. Finally in late spring 1844, William resolved to take Joseph’s polygamy public. As polygamy was against the law, William filed a lawsuit against Joseph for living “in an open state of adultery” with Maria Lawrence. The following Sunday Joseph commented on William’s suit in his sermon, “Another indictment has been got up against me...What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one.” By this time, Joseph had married at least thirty-four women." (Mormon Polygamy: A History pg 66; In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith pg 476)
"William also announced Joseph’s polygamy in the “Nauvoo Expositor”. Within days, Joseph declared the newspaper a “public nuisance” and ordered the city marshal to “destroy the printing press...and burn all the Expositors.” Joseph was subsequently arrested and jailed in nearby Carthage, where he was killed on June 27, 1844. After little more than a year of marriage, Sarah and Maria were widows." (In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith pg 477; Mormon Polygamy: A History pgs 68,69)
Source Material: http://wivesofjosephsmith.org/2425-SarahandMariaLawrence.htm
