She also fell in love with one of the missionaries, Orson Pratt, who, after leaving to preach in other areas, returned to seek Sarah's hand in marriage.

Sarah stayed with her family with only periodic visits from her husband until the couple moved in October to an apartment in Kirtland, Ohio.

Amidst the economic difficulties of 1837 and the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society, Sarah gave birth to their first son Orson Jr. With few financial prospects in Kirtland, the family moved back to Henderson as soon as the infant was capable of the journey, and several months later relocated to New York City.

In July 1838, Orson Pratt was called to gather with a number of other church elders at Far West, Missouri to prepare for another mission.

Violence in Missouri led to the expulsion of the Mormons from that state, and the Pratts were forced to flee to the upriver settlements on the Mississippi.

When Bennett's exploits were uncovered, he devoted considerable effort to attributing his own sexual improprieties with Sarah, and other women, to Joseph.

"[6] To counteract these allegations, Joseph Smith compiled a pamphlet of affidavits, certificates, and letters which proved his innocence and Bennett's guilt concerning sexual misconduct.

In 1858 Sarah Pratt's former teenage neighbor, Mary Etta Coray Henderson Smith (aka Mary Ettie V. Smith), wrote that in 1841 Sarah "occupied a house owned by John C. Bennett... Prophet Joseph, who called upon her one day... alleged he found John C. Bennett in bed with her.

Bennett ultimately assembled his accusations into a volume titled The History of the Saints; or An Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism,,[5] which was first advertised for sale in the Sangamo Journal on November 11, 1842.

In response, numerous affidavits were printed in the local and pro-Mormon Nauvoo press (e.g., the Nauvoo Wasp), most prominently Jacob B. Backenstoes, the non-Mormon sheriff of Hancock County and Pratt's former landlords, Stephen H. Goddard and his wife, whose name was recorded as either Zeruiah, Zerviah, or Zemiah.

During this time Bennett and Pratt "sat close together, he leaning on her lap, whispering continually or talking very low."

Personally appeared before me, Daniel H. Wells, an Alderman of said city of Nauvoo, John C. Bennett, who being duly sworn according to law, deposeth and saith: that he never was taught any thing in the least contrary to the strictest principles of the Gospel, or of virtue, or of the laws of God, or man, under any occasion either directly or indirectly, in word or deed, by Joseph Smith; and that he never knew the said Smith to countenance any improper conduct whatever, either in public or private; and that he never did teach me in private that an illegal illicit intercourse with females was, under any circumstances, justifiable, and that I never knew him so to teach others.

Mrs. White, Mrs. Pratt, [Margaret and Matilda] Niemans, [Sarah Searcy] Miller, [Martha] Brotherton, and others.

[13]Sometime after the November 1842 publication of History of the Saints, Orson Pratt stated, His book I have read with the greatest disgust.

[17] At the time of the 1842 controversy, Zeruiah Goddard had claimed Bennett told Sarah Pratt "that he could cause abortion with perfect safety to the mother at any stage of pregnancy, and that he had frequently destroyed and removed infants before their time to prevent exposure of the parties, and that he had instruments for that purpose.

[18][19] Nevertheless, Sarah Pratt recounted an incident in which [Bennett was en route to do] "a little job for Joseph [because] one of his women was in trouble."

She claimed Stephen ran out the back door, but that she confronted Zeruiah, who sobbed: It is not my fault; Hyrum Smith [Joseph's brother] came to our house, with the affidavits all written out, and forced us to sign them.

[11][14]Pratt's 1886 accounts portray her as being a virtuous innocent, if knowledgeable about Bennett's alleged abortions on Smith's behalf.

[25]In 1874 Pratt testified on behalf of the Liberal candidate running for the position of Utah Territorial Representative to Congress, Robert Baskin.

[27]Pratt lashed out at Orson in an 1877 interview: Here was my husband, gray headed, taking to his bed young girls in mockery of marriage.