Vilate Muray Kimball
Known for her compassion and strength, Vilate cared not only for her own ten children but also for Heber’s extended plural family, offering stability and kindness in times of loss and uncertainty. Her letters and poetry reveal a woman of deep conviction, tender humor, and unwavering loyalty to her husband and her faith. From feeding the hungry during famine to guiding her missionary sons with wisdom, she embodied the spirit of devotion and endurance that defined the pioneer generation.
Vilate passed away in 1867, remembered by her contemporaries as “one of the noble women of the earth.” Her legacy endures in her descendants and in the history of a people she helped sustain through some of their darkest and most defining hours.
Vilate Murray Kimball (1806–1867) was the devoted wife of Apostle Heber C. Kimball and the matriarch of one of the most prominent families in early Latter-day Saint history. Born in Victor, New York, she married Heber in 1822 and together they embraced the restored gospel a decade later. Vilate’s life was marked by faith, sacrifice, and resilience as she endured the persecutions in Missouri, the trials of Nauvoo, and the hardships of Winter Quarters before journeying west to the Salt Lake Valley.
Timeline
Vilate Murray Kimball
Born: 1 June 1806 – Florida, Montgomery County, New York
Parents: Roswell Murray & Susannah Fitch
Siblings: Gould (1799), William (1802), Lucretia (1804)
Married: Heber Chase Kimball – 7 November 1822
Vilate Murray Kimball (1806-1867) was born in Florida Mongomery County New York. The youngest of 4 children, she was toted on, not only by her parents, but also her siblings. Throughout her childhood, Vilate's experiences of war and living a frontier lifestyle helped prepare her for the life and hardships she would be called to pass through as she grew to adulthood. This lifestyle also taught her many skills that would serve her and others significantly, throughout her life.
She married her sweetheart in 1822. True to her character, even their meeting/courtship began with an act of service. As Vilate offered a cool glass of water to a weary traveler (Heber) on a hot summer day. She became a valiant disciple of Jesus Christ and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1832. Throughout their life here on this earth, and their involvement in the church, Vilate became Heber's eyes and ears, whenever he was called away for whatever reason.
In the early days of the church, Vilate spent much time rearing the children on her own, thru much trial, turbulence and persecution of the saints. Heber was called on several missions during this timeframe, which took him far from home. Vilate did, however, have great neighbors, friends and fellow saints that happily and willingly assisted her in Heber's absence. Vilate and Heber wrote to each other often, Heber making Vilate promise that she would share all news, both good and bad. Her fulfillment of that promise is the biggest contributor to what we now know of her personal history (unlike Heber, Vilate was not known to keep a journal).
Even though she did not keep a Journal, Vilate was known to dabble in writing poetry from time to time. Some of her other skills and talents included spinning, weaving, sewing, cheese making and baking. She was known as a woman of service throughout her life. Seeing to the needs of the sick, the hungry and those who found themselves without for whatever reason. She was well loved by all who knew her. A woman of faith, a knobble mother in Zion.
Children:
Judith (1823–1824)
William (1826)
Helen (1828)
Roswell Heber (1831–1831, lived 5 days)
Heber Parley (1835)
David Patten (1839)
Charles Spaulding (1843)
Brigham Willard (1845–1867)
Solomon Farnham (1847)
Murray Gould (1850–1852)
Early Years (1806–1825)
1806 – Born the youngest of four children.
1809 – Family moved to Ontario County, New York.
1812 – War of 1812 brought British patrols within 20 miles of home; Victor Township established.
1815 – Grandfather Ezra died while living with the family.
1819 – Bible study began at Victor Hotel; Vilate, age 13, participated.
1820s – Learned spinning, weaving, cooking, preserving; frontier life shaped her resilience.
1822 – Married Heber Chase Kimball at age 16.
1823 – Daughter Judith born (died at 10 months).
1824–1825 – Loss of Heber’s mother, Judith (sister-in-law), and Heber’s father (who had lived with them).
Early Adulthood (1826–1845)
1826 – Son William born.
1827 – Witnessed “vision” of soldiers in the night sky (same night Joseph Smith received the plates).
1828 – Daughter Helen Mar born.
1830 – Heber’s brother Charles died.
1831 – Son Roswell Heber born and died; Vilate’s mother also died. Family baptized Baptist; later met Mormon elders.
1832 – Heber and Vilate baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
1833–1836 – Family moved to Kirtland; persecution began in Missouri. Vilate helped make temple furnishings.
1834 – Heber left with Zion’s Camp; Vilate cared for children and provided clothing.
1835 – Heber called as Apostle; son Heber Parley born.
1836 – Kirtland Temple dedicated.
1837 – Heber departed on first England mission; left blessings on Vilate and children.
1838 – Family expelled from Missouri; witnessed Haun’s Mill Massacre aftermath.
1839 – Settled in Quincy; son David Patten born in Commerce (later Nauvoo) amid sickness. Heber left on second mission to England.
1840–1841 – Nauvoo organized; Relief Society founded; Nauvoo Temple construction began. Vilate baptized for her parents.
1841 – Heber returned from mission; family moved into better home on the flats of Nauvoo.
1842 – Vilate consented to Heber’s plural marriage after visionary confirmation.
1843 – Son Charles Spaulding born.
1844 – Joseph and Hyrum Smith martyred; Vilate comforted grieving families; Heber returned home.
1845 – Son Brigham Willard born; Nauvoo Temple work accelerated. Vilate helped lay carpet, hem the veil, and upholster altars.
Midlife & Migration West (1846–1848)
1846 – Family left Nauvoo across the Mississippi; endured hardships en route to Winter Quarters. Vilate and Elizabeth Ann Whitney cared for starving Saints.
1847 – Son Solomon Farnham born; Heber departed with first pioneer company, leaving Vilate to oversee family.
1847–1848 – Heber sustained as Brigham Young’s first counselor. Family migrated west to Salt Lake Valley in 1848.
Aug 1848 – Daughter Helen lost her second child on the trail; Vilate grieved deeply.
Life in Utah (1849–1867)
1849 – Fell into melancholy; wrote a poem to Heber. His tender reply lifted her spirits.
1850 – Final child, Murray Gould, born (died at age 2).
1851–1852 – Faced criticism from siblings over plural marriage; defended her faith in letters.
1855 – Drought and famine; Vilate kept open house, feeding dozens daily.
1857–1858 – Recognized at fairs for her weaving and cloth work.
1862–1864 – Spent summers at Parley’s Park with son William’s family, making cheese and butter.
1863 – Son Charles left on mission.
1867 – Son Brigham died returning from his mission.
22 Oct 1867 – Vilate died of heartbreak at age 61.
Legacy
Vilate Murray Kimball was remembered as:
A devoted mother of ten.
A pillar of faith and resilience through persecution, migration, and loss.
A leader among women in the early Latter-day Saint movement.
A source of strength to Heber C. Kimball and the broader community.
Early Life
Victor Township had only been organized five years earlier (1802), carved out of Farmington in Ontario County. This was deep frontier country — only about a decade after the Iroquois Confederacy had been forced to cede much of this land after the American Revolution. Seneca villages and fields once thrived here.
By 1806, most of the Native presence had been displaced, but traces of their long habitation (old trails, burial mounds, and cornfields) would still have been visible. The landscape was a mix of dense hardwood forests (oak, maple, hickory, elm), swampy lowlands, and freshly cleared farmland.
Farmers felled trees with axes, burned brush, and began sowing wheat, corn, and rye.
Family Background
The Murray family was of sturdy New England stock, and several relatives were drawn into the Presbyterian ministry. This strong Calvinist influence instilled in Vilate a reverence for God and a willingness to sacrifice for principle—traits that would later sustain her through the hardships of frontier life and the radical demands of her new faith.
Childhood in Victor, New York
Vilate Murray was born June 1, 1806, in Victor, New York, the daughter of Roswell and Susannah Murray. She grew up in the fertile countryside of western New York, an area alive with religious fervor during what came to be known as the “Burned-over District.” Her early years were shaped by both the stability of a close-knit family and the intensity of the spiritual awakenings that swept through the region.
Life in Victor, NY in 1806
Population: A few hundred settlers, mostly families of English and New England descent who had moved west into the fertile Genesee Country after the Revolution.
Housing: Log cabins were still the norm. A few wealthier families had begun building frame houses, but most lived in simple one-room log homes with puncheon floors (split logs) and stone fireplaces.
Work: Men spent their days clearing forest, plowing new fields, and building barns. Women tended gardens, spun wool or flax, and kept livestock.
Community: There were no railroads (those wouldn’t come until the 1850s) and no canal yet (the Erie Canal would be built in the 1820s). Travel was by horse, ox cart, or foot along rough dirt roads and forest tracks.
Religion & Schools: Itinerant preachers came through occasionally. One-room schools were beginning to appear, though not every child had access yet.
Meeting and Marrying Heber
In 1820 the Kimball family moved from Vermont to nearby Mendon, New York. It was there that Vilate met Heber Chase Kimball, a hardworking young potter and blacksmith. Their friendship grew into courtship, and on November 22, 1822, the two were married. Their early married life was modest, filled with labor and hope, but their partnership was marked from the beginning by devotion, resilience, and faith—qualities that would define their journey together in the years ahead.
Conversion to the Church
In the early 1830s, Vilate and Heber were living in Mendon, New York, where they became close friends with Brigham Young and his family. It was through this circle that Vilate first encountered the message of the Restoration. Missionaries preaching in the area stirred both curiosity and conviction, and in 1832, Heber and Vilate chose to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This decision marked a dramatic turning point in their lives. They sold their property, left behind the familiarity of Mendon, and moved their young family to Kirtland, Ohio, to gather with the Saints. For Vilate, the choice meant embracing an uncertain path—one that would demand sacrifice, resilience, and deep faith. Yet it also placed her at the heart of a rising religious movement that would shape her destiny and the history of her posterity.
Life in Kirtland
In Kirtland, Ohio, Vilate quickly showed her devotion to the restored gospel she had embraced. While Heber dedicated himself to church service and missionary work, Vilate bore the daily burdens of family life and consecrated her efforts to the Lord’s work. She wove cloth, sewed clothing, and gave her labor to help sustain those building the Kirtland Temple—a sacred cause she deeply believed in.
When Heber marched with Zion’s Camp in 1834, Vilate remained at home, caring for their young family without letters or news of his safety. Though the separation was difficult, her faith anchored her. She trusted in the Lord’s promises and drew strength from the Spirit, becoming an example of quiet courage to those around her.
Heber’s safe return and his later calling to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles brought both greater sacrifice and greater opportunity to serve. For Vilate, Kirtland became not only a place of loneliness, but also a place of consecration, faith, and spiritual growth—a proving ground that revealed her strength and prepared her for the path ahead.
Missouri and Nauvoo Years
After leaving Kirtland, Vilate and her family endured the violence and upheaval that marked the Saints’ time in Missouri. She walked hundreds of miles with her children, sometimes in harsh winter conditions, while Heber remained behind to protect the Prophet Joseph Smith. These experiences deepened her resilience and her dependence on faith.
In Nauvoo, Vilate found moments of peace and community as the city grew, yet tragedy and testing soon returned. She was present for the shocking martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in 1844 and later recorded the sorrowful return of their bodies—an account that remains one of her most quoted letters.
It was also in Nauvoo that Vilate faced her greatest personal trial: the introduction of plural marriage. Deeply loyal to her husband, she nevertheless struggled with the principle. Heber’s assurances, combined with her own spiritual convictions, eventually enabled her to accept the practice and even extend kindness to her husband’s other wives. Her willingness to embrace this sacrifice revealed the depth of her devotion, both to her marriage and to her faith.
For Vilate, Nauvoo was a place of both profound sorrow and spiritual stretching—years that tested and ultimately solidified her commitment to the restored gospel.
Trek West & Winter Quarters
Press play, close your eyes, and imagine what it would have sounded like in the 1800’s. No airplanes, no motors, no city lights, no sirens. Just the birds, wind, and the beauty of God’s creations remind us that “all things denote there is a God.”
When the Saints were driven from Nauvoo, Vilate again shouldered the burdens of displacement. She walked long distances, cared for children, and managed scarce resources while Heber’s church assignments often took him away. At Winter Quarters, she became a steadying influence among the Saints, opening her home and heart to those in need.
Vilate participated in the women’s spiritual gatherings organized by Eliza R. Snow, where sisters met to pray, prophesy, and strengthen one another. She herself gave and received blessings, reflecting the deep faith and spiritual authority that marked her role in the community.
Her compassion was evident not only within her household but across the settlement. She shared food, comforted the sick, and supported Heber’s other wives when their children fell ill. Yet these years were also marked by grief: the death of her own brother, the loss of Sarah Ann Whitney’s little boy, and constant uncertainty as families struggled to survive.
Through sacrifice and faith, Vilate helped her family and others endure the hardships of the trail’s beginning. Winter Quarters became not just a place of suffering, but also one of growth—where Vilate’s leadership and resilience deepened her role as the matriarch of a plural family and a mother in Israel.
Life in the Salt Lake Valley
Arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1848, Vilate Kimball faced yet another transition—this time into the heart of Mormon society where polygamy was openly lived. For the first time, she was not only Heber’s wife but also the acknowledged matriarch of his large and growing family.
Her early years in the valley were difficult. She grieved over Helen’s fragile health, the loss of grandchildren, and the strain of sharing her husband in a more public way than ever before. A private poem she wrote reveals the pain of feeling forgotten, followed by Heber’s tender letter promising that no one could supersede her place in his life. This exchange marked a turning point, helping her find renewed strength and purpose.
Vilate’s home became a hub of family life. She hosted prayers, meals, and gatherings for Heber’s wives and children, providing stability in the midst of complexity. Known for her generosity, she kept “open house,” feeding the poor and quietly redistributing flour and food allowances when others ran short. She also oversaw household industries, spinning cloth and producing fabric that earned recognition at territorial fairs.
Despite personal sorrows, Vilate’s later years were filled with faith, humor, and resilience. Friends and observers described her as dignified, self-possessed, and strong, with a commanding presence that inspired respect. She came to embody the phrase she repeated often: “The Lord does all things right.”
Personality & Character
Vilate Kimball was remembered as much for who she was as for what she endured. Friends, family, and later historians described her as compassionate, humorous, practical, and remarkably resilient. She had a gift for lifting others—whether feeding the hungry during famine, consoling grieving mothers, or quietly intervening to soften her husband’s sternness toward other wives.
Her letters reveal a woman of deep faith and steady testimony. Writing to her missionary sons, she encouraged them with warmth, humor, and spiritual counsel. To Heber, she expressed loyalty, vulnerability, and conviction, showing both her tender heart and her iron resolve. Through her words, she emerges as both a devoted mother and a woman of keen wit, often closing serious counsel with a touch of self-deprecating humor.
Contemporaries also noted her striking presence. Fitz Hugh Ludlow, a traveler who met her in Utah in 1863, described her as tall, dignified, and commanding—likening her to heroic figures of history such as Joan of Arc or Zenobia. He observed her as “the very first of [Heber’s] wives—the wife to whom he most deferred, and in whose wisdom he had the most implicit confidence.”
Vilate’s combination of strength and tenderness made her a pillar in her family and community. She embodied the pioneer spirit not only by enduring hardship, but by doing so with grace, faith, and even humor.
Final Years & Legacy
In her final years, Vilate remained a steady presence at the center of her family. She gathered her children and grandchildren for meals, visited her daughters-in-law, and maintained close friendships with Heber’s other wives. She continued to live by her simple creed—“the Lord does all things right”—finding peace in faith even after a lifetime of sacrifice.
Her health began to decline in 1867, just months after the heartbreaking death of her son Brigham on the trail home from his mission. Overcome with grief, Vilate passed away on October 22, 1867, at the age of sixty-one. At her funeral, Heber described her as true and faithful to the end, and Brigham Young declared that “a better woman never lived.”
Vilate’s influence reached far beyond her own lifetime. She was not only the mother of ten children, but the matriarch of a vast posterity who carried her strength, humor, and devotion into the generations that followed. Her writings and the memories of those who knew her paint a portrait of a woman of uncommon dignity—one who met hardship with resilience, nurtured with compassion, and lived with unwavering faith.
Today, she is remembered as the heart of the Kimball family legacy: a woman who embodied both the sacrifice and the triumph of the early Latter-day Saints.
Vilate met hardship with resilience, nurtured with compassion, and lived with unwavering faith.
“The Lord does all things right” — the creed that guided her life and defined her legacy.
Download Resources
Furthering the Faith
Faith in Times of Separation:
Vilate spent much of her life apart from Heber while he served missions or fulfilled church duties. She managed the home, cared for children, and bore the weight of uncertainty with faith.
Have you ever had to carry on when someone you loved was absent?
What role did faith or inner strength play in helping you endure?
Resilience in Hardship:
From Missouri persecutions to famine in Utah, Vilate faced loss, displacement, and sorrow. Yet she kept an open house, feeding the poor and comforting the afflicted.
How do you find the strength to continue serving others when you are struggling yourself?
Can you recall a time when resilience in hardship became a blessing to someone else?
Living with Complexity:
Vilate wrestled with the challenges of plural marriage, balancing pain with loyalty and kindness. Her letters and poetry reveal both vulnerability and faith.
Have you faced situations where commitment required great sacrifice?
How did you reconcile conflicting feelings with your sense of purpose or faith?
A Mother’s Influence:
Through her letters, Vilate guided her children with testimony, humor, and love. Her words strengthened sons serving missions and comforted grieving daughters.
How have you been influenced by a mother, grandmother, or mentor in your life?
What lessons or values have they passed on that still guide you today?
Legacy of Strength and Compassion:
Vilate’s life reminds us that history is made up of real people who endured sorrow, laughter, and faith just like us. She was remembered as dignified, compassionate, and resilient.
How does seeing Vilate as a real person, with both trials and triumphs, make her story more meaningful to you?
What qualities of hers would you like to carry into your own legacy?