No one knows the real count. many of them were done in secret. Brigham young had 19. At one time.

After searching for a while, I find varying results. Somewhere between 20 and 50, but the sources that report 50 say that some of them were only counted as wives after his death ('sealed to him'...), so I'd say he had something like 30 wives *shrugs* (Some of which were children.)

I am not an expert on anything LDS. But if I recall correctly it was 33 or 34.... and some were married to someone else before he decided he wanted them as wives!!

I assume that you are talking about this person: "Joseph Smith, Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious figure who founded the Latter Day Saint movement, also known as Mormonism." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith The answer is: Probably about 34, but some people in the RLDS disagree and says just one. "Historians widely agree that Joseph Smith Jr. taught and practiced polygamy. This position is supported by "sealing" records, public marriage licenses (in many cases notarized), affidavits, letters, journals and diaries. Smith's son, Joseph Smith III, and some members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS, now called the Community of Christ) disagreed with the evidence presented and taught that Joseph Smith opposed the practice of polygamy (Whitmer 1887)." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith%2C_Jr._and_polygamy On this site there is a list of 34 possible wives.

Hmmm, I wonder if any of the ABer's who answered this are LDS???

I am guessing you are more interested in Polygamy, than how many wives Joseph Smith had. If not there are others who do not know why the Mormons even practiced Polygamy at all. The fact is the LDS Church is a Restored Church. We are neither Protestant nor Catholic. Joseph Smith did not belong to any Church before he Organized this Church under the direction of the Lord. Now when I say we are a Restored Church, the Lord Restored everything that had been lost from the days of Adam right through the New Testament Church. Therefore one of the things that needed to be Restored was Polygamy, because it was part of the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage, practiced in the days of Adam at different times throughout the Old Testament. And in order to Restore this principle of the Gospel it became necessary to practice it for a time. Generally, when this principle is practiced the Lord commands it "To build up a righteous seed unto him." But in this case it was only for the purpose of Restoration. That is why, when it became Critical to the survival of the Church, the Lord told Wilford Woodruff to cease the practice, it was no longer needed, it had been restored. However there are some who believed Wilford Woodruff was a fallen Prophet, and left the Church to continue practicing this principle on their own. Today all of those groups who practice Polygamy have made it available to all members. When the LDS Church practiced it only about 4% of the Brethren and sisters were allowed to live this principle. I am sure you have heard or read many horror stories about how unhappy the women were, but I suspect all or most all of them were made up by people who did not even live this principle. Women were asked to live this practice, and went into it with their eyes wide open. No one was forced to live it in any way. Joseph Smith fought this practice as long as he could, until the Lord sent an Angel who commanded him to live it or die, and he drew a sword, prepared to kill Joseph on the spot if he did not commit to live this principle right then. So he agreed, but he had to keep it quiet as long as possible for fear of the mobs all around at the time. And now you know how and why the LDS Church came to practice Polygamy, and why we stopped. I'm afraid these other groups who still practice polygamy, are giving this principle a real bad name. They are a perfect example of what can happen when this principle is lived without the approval of the Lord. And it isn't pretty...whew6

Well, I don't know how many times we're going to have to answer this same question but here goes again . . . According to Todd Compton, Author of the awarding winning book, "In Sacred Loneliness" he had 34-wives counting Emma. http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/ His number correlates with LDS Church records which you will find on the Church owned FamilySearch.org web site. Here's the link to Joseph Smith's record: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/AF/individual_record.asp?recid=7762167&lds=0%AEion=-1%AEionfriendly=&frompage=99 If you count all the post-mortem Temple Sealings the number jumps up to around 54 - though some researchers have claimed as many as 80. Personally I think that including Temple Sealings and speculation only muddies the water unnecessarily and I would encourage you to ignore those highly inflated numbers that can't be empirically supported. Never-the-less here's a link to Michael Marquadt's website with the particulars surrounding one of the "in the 50's" numbers if you're interested: http://www.xmission.com/~plporter/lds/jswives/jswives.htm