Martha McBride Knight

Martha McBride Knight Smith Kimball (March 17, 1805 – November 20, 1901) was a founding member of the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which was organized on her birthday in 1842. She was married to early Latter Day Saint leader Vinson Knight, by whom she had seven children. In 1842 she was sealed as a plural wife to Joseph Smith. In January 1846, she was married polygamously to Heber C. Kimball, by whom she had one child, a son, who was born at Winter Quarters and died there as an infant. She later emigrated to Utah Territory, where she resided in various locations across the territory until her death at age 96. She was a witness to, and in some instances a key participant in, some of the pivotal events in early Latter Day Saint history.

Early years: New York, Ohio, Missouri Martha McBride was born on March 17, 1805, in Chester, Washington County, New York, (though now in Warren County) the youngest of 9 children born to her parents, Daniel McBride and Abigail Mead. Martha's father, an itinerant pre-Campbellite minister, moved the family to western New York, where he died when Martha was 18 years old. She married Vinson Knight, son of Doctor Rodolphus Knight and Rizpah Lee, on July 26, 1826. They initially resided near Martha's relatives in Perrysburg, Cattaraugus County, where their first 4 children were born.

Martha's handmade handkerchief linen temple robe, used in the Nauvoo Temple, and a colorful handmade quilt top are preserved by her descendants. She took first prize making buttonholes at the New York State Fair when she was 10 years old. She was extremely neat and clean. A granddaughter remembered that her shoes had to fit like kid gloves before she would wear them. She was a dainty little woman, with fine delicate features, gray-blue eyes, and dark (some say light brown) hair.

In 1941 a granddaughter of Martha's swore in an affidavit that, while Martha was alive, her parents, Gilbert and Adaline Belnap, received from the LDS Church $20.00 per month for an extensive period to purchase clothes and food for Martha, and that the LDS Church, upon Martha's death, sent a casket and burial clothes for Martha to Hooper to Bishop Childs, Bishop of the Hooper Ward.

Family

Martha McBride Knight gave birth to 8 children, seven through her husband Vinson Knight and one through Heber C. Kimball. The last four of her children, including the son through Kimball, died young.

Almira Knight, born June 21, 1827, died 1912 in Akron, Ohio; married (1) Sylvester B. Stoddard and (2) George Hanscom Rizpah Knight, born May 13, 1829, died 1895 in St. Johns, Arizona; married Andrew Smith Gibbons Adaline Knight, born May 4, 1831, died 1919 in Salt Lake City, Utah; married Gilbert Belnap James Vinson Knight, born September 4, 1833, died 1912 in Salt Lake City, Utah; married Celestial Roberts Nathaniel Knight, born October 30, 1835, died 1836 Martha Abigail Knight, born February 9, 1839, died March 24, 1844, in Nauvoo, Illinois Rodolphus Elderkin Knight, born September 29, 1841, died 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois (son) Kimball, born about January 13, 1847, died as an infant

Martha's posterity today numbers in the tens of thousands, most of whom are still members of the LDS Church. Notable descendants include LDS General Authorities Francis M. Gibbons and Larry W. Gibbons.