Sarah Granger Kimball Home

- Historic Buildings -

LOCATION: Main Street

Sarah Granger Kimball (1818-1898) was born in New York not far from Palmyra. Her parents were early supporters of Joseph Smith, and Sarah was similarly devoted to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. She helped establish the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo in 1842. In 1868, she laid the cornerstone for the Church’s Relief Society building in Salt Lake City. Sarah was politically active and a good friend to Susan B. Anthony. She was president of the Utah Woman Suffrage Association. Hiram Kimball joined the Church in 1843 and remained in Nauvoo until 1851 due to business interests. Later joining the Saints in Utah, he was called on a mission in 1863 but perished in a steamer explosion on his way to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii).

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360° Walk-Through

Take a look inside the Kimball house right from your computer or smart phone by checking out our 360° Photos. Click on the links during the tour to continue through the house.

`Go Inside Kitchen Pantry Bedroom One Bedroom Two Go to the Backyard Go to Side Yard`

Image Gallery

Peek inside the Kimball Home as you scroll through our Image Gallery.

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Sarah Granger Kimball Home

This home was already in the town of Commerce, Illinois before the Saints arrived and changed the name to Nauvoo. Hiram Kimball was a successful businessman who owned hundreds of acres of land. He sold some of it to the Saints when they arrived in 1839. He and Sarah married in 1840 and moved into this home. Unlike many others, they enjoyed a full decade in a comfortable house before leaving Nauvoo.

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Parlor

The parlor was a favorite gathering place for Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo. It is especially remembered for a meeting that led to the organization of the Relief Society. Sarah and her friend, Margaret Cook, invited several women to meet and organize a sewing society to provide shirts and other supplies to the Nauvoo Temple builders and their families. Eliza R. Snow wrote a constitution and bylaws for the proposed society and asked Joseph Smith to review them.

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Parlor

Joseph Smith recognized the inspiration behind the women’s efforts to organize, but he invited them to aim for something even better. Twenty women subsequently met on March 17, 1842, in Joseph’s Red Brick Store to be organized through the Church’s priesthood authority. Today, the Relief Society is a worldwide organization.

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Parlor

A likeness of Sarah taken in Utah.

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Kitchen

The kitchen is small but efficient. There is a bustle oven on the wall to the right of the fireplace. While Sarah would have been busy in this kitchen caring for her family, she still found time to devote to the Relief Society’s efforts to help build the Nauvoo Temple.

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Kitchen

Beyond the kitchen is a small pantry and the back door.

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Kitchen

Period items currently housed here are not original to the home, but they represent Sarah’s and Hiram’s prosperous circumstances.

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Children’s Bedroom

Sarah’s and Hiram’s first two sons were born in Nauvoo and probably occupied this room. A third son was born in Utah.

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Children’s Bedroom

This trunk belonged to Sarah. The other items represent toys and tools common to the time period.

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Master Bedroom

This was likely Sarah’s and Hiram’s bedroom. When they settled in Utah, Sarah worked for a time as a teacher while Hiram recovered from poor health and some business losses.

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Master Bedroom

In the years following Hiram’s death, Sarah adopted two children (one died as an infant) and raised a Native American girl.

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Backyard

Today, this barn is used for social functions and large group gatherings. The grounds surrounding the home feature a large flower garden.

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