Tag: Plural Marriage

  • Polygamy Procreation

    Polygamy Procreation

    But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified.

    Joseph Smith, Doctrine & Covenants 132:63
    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/132.p63#p63

    The youngest was Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Joseph’s close friends Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball, who was sealed to Joseph several months before her 15th birthday.

    Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo, Gospel Topic Essay
    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng
  • Fair Shake

    Fair Shake

    Excerpt from an April 17, 1860 New York Times article, ‘Polygamy and its Fruits’:1

    ‘Some time ago HEBER KIMBALL was lecturing some missionaries who were preparing to start out on foreign missions, in the Tabernacle, and said to them: “Brethren, I want you to understand that it is not to be as it has been heretofore. The brother Missionaries have been in the habit of picking out the prettiest women for themselves before they get here, and bringing on the ugly ones for us; hereafter you have to bring them all here before taking any of them, and let us all have a fair shake.” The old reprobate then had at least a score of women whom he called wives.’

    References

    References
    1 April 17, 1860 New York Times article, ‘Polygamy and its Fruits’ – https://www.nytimes.com/1860/04/17/archives/from-utah-polygamy-and-its-fruitsthe-missionariesthe-pony.html
  • Knee High

    Knee High

    Excerpt from a discourse by Orson Hyde, recorded in the diary of  Luke W. Gallup, February 11, 1857: 1

    “I find a great spirit in men for getting more wives, & I have heard that in this place, there is not a girl knee high to a toad (using a strong figure) that is not engaged. I “do not know, that you have outstript the mark. If you have gone into this, with the sanction of your bishop, or the First Presidency, all is right; but if not, it is not right. It is true I have labored to show up the principle, and tell the people where they were binding; but I did not give anyone the right to act. I could not give that which I did not possess. I only tried to remove the obstacles. I hear that they have gone in couples, triples, quadruples, & even sextuples, to Salt Lake; & the President may think I am raising the very devil here. 

    References

    References
    1 Luke W. Gallup Reminiscences and diary, pages 193-95, MS 8402, Church History Library, Salt Lake City – https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=4e4d3060-dc87-464e-9861-cb7f20054bda&crate=0&index=193
  • We will always teach truth #4

    We will always teach truth #4

    Excerpt from an address by Russell M. Nelson, September 17 2019: 1

    It is precisely because we do care deeply about all of God’s children that we proclaim His truth. We may not always tell people what they want to hear. Prophets are rarely popular. But we will always teach the truth!

    Excerpt from ‘Address of the Prophet—His Testimony Against the Dissenters at Nauvoo’ (Sunday, May 26, 1844), shortly before his death:2

    Be meek and lowly, upright and pure; render good for evil. If you bring on yourselves your own destruction, I will complain. It is not right for a man to bare down his neck to the oppressor always. Be humble and patient in all circumstances of life; we shall then triumph more gloriously. What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers. I labored with these apostates myself until I was out of all manner of patience; and then I sent my brother Hyrum, whom they virtually kicked out of doors.

    Footnote 24 – LDS Gospel Topic Essay, ‘Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo’:3

    Careful estimates put the number between 30 and 40. See Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, 2:272–73.

    References

    References
    1 Russell M.Nelson, BYU Devotional, September 17 2019 – https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/russell-m-nelson/love-laws-god/
    2 History of the Church vol. 6, p. 411 – https://byustudies.byu.edu/history-of-the-church
    3 LDS Gospel Topic Essay, ‘Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo’ – https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng
  • Already Married

    Already Married

    Excerpt from the LDS Gospel Topic Essay, ‘Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo’: 1

    Following his marriage to Louisa Beaman and before he married other single women, Joseph Smith was sealed to a number of women who were already married. 29 Neither these women nor Joseph explained much about these sealings, though several women said they were for eternity alone. 30 Other women left no records, making it unknown whether their sealings were for time and eternity or were for eternity alone.

    Footnote 29:

    Estimates of the number of these sealings range from 12 to 14. (See Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith [Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997], 4, 6; Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, 1:253–76, 303–48.) For an early summary of this practice, see John A. Widtsoe, “Evidences and Reconciliations: Did Joseph Smith Introduce Plural Marriage?” Improvement Era 49, no. 11 (Nov. 1946): 766–67.

    References

    References
    1 Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo – https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng#29
  • Law of Sarah

    Law of Sarah

    Excerpt from the LDS Gospel Topi Essay, ‘Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo’: 1

    The revelation on marriage required that a wife give her consent before her husband could enter into plural marriage. Nevertheless, toward the end of the revelation, the Lord said that if the first wife “receive not this law”—the command to practice plural marriage—the husband would be “exempt from the law of Sarah,” presumably the requirement that the husband gain the consent of the first wife before marrying additional women. After Emma opposed plural marriage, Joseph was placed in an agonizing dilemma, forced to choose between the will of God and the will of his beloved Emma. He may have thought Emma’s rejection of plural marriage exempted him from the law of Sarah. Her decision to “receive not this law” permitted him to marry additional wives without her consent. Because of Joseph’s early death and Emma’s decision to remain in Nauvoo and not discuss plural marriage after the Church moved west, many aspects of their story remain known only to the two of them.

    Doctrine and Covenants 132:

    54 And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law.

    61 And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood—if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else.

    62 And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified.

    63 But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified.

    64 And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, if any man have a wife, who holds the keys of this power, and he teaches unto her the law of my priesthood, as pertaining to these things, then shall she believe and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your God; for I will destroy her; for I will magnify my name upon all those who receive and abide in my law.

    65 Therefore, it shall be lawful in me, if she receive not this law, for him to receive all things whatsoever I, the Lord his God, will give unto him, because she did not believe and administer unto him according to my word; and she then becomes the transgressor; and he is exempt from the law of Sarah, who administered unto Abraham according to the law when I commanded Abraham to take Hagar to wife.

    66 And now, as pertaining to this law, verily, verily, I say unto you, I will reveal more unto you, hereafter; therefore, let this suffice for the present. Behold, I am Alpha and Omega. Amen.

    References

    References
    1 Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo – https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng
  • Criminal

    Criminal

    Excerpt from the LDS Gospel Topic Essay, ‘Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo’: 1

    “After receiving a revelation commanding him to practice plural marriage, Joseph Smith married multiple wives and introduced the practice to close associates.”

    “Polygamy had been permitted for millennia in many cultures and religions, but, with few exceptions, was rejected in Western cultures. In Joseph Smith’s time, monogamy was the only legal form of marriage in the United States. Joseph knew the practice of plural marriage would stir up public ire. After receiving the commandment, he taught a few associates about it, but he did not spread this teaching widely in the 1830s.”

    Section 121 from the Revised Laws of Illinois, pg. 198 (1833): 2

    “Bigamy consists in the having of two wives or two husbands at one and the same time, knowing that the former husband or wife is still alive. If any person or persons within this State, being married, or who shall hereafter marry, do at any time marry any person or persons, the former husband or wife being alive, the person so offending shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine, not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisoned in the penitentiary, not exceeding two years. It shall not be necessary to prove either of the said marriages by the register or certificate thereof, or other record evidence; but the same may be proved by such evidence as is admissible to prove a marriage in other cases, and when such second marriage shall have taken place without this state, cohabitation in this state after such second marriage shall be deemed the commission of the crime of bigamy, and the trial in such case may take place in the county where such cohabitation shall have occurred.’

    References

  • For the Widows

    For the Widows

    Excerpts from ‘Evidences and Reconciliations’ by Apostle John A. Widtsoe, 1943: 1

    “Plural marriage has been a subject of wide and frequent comment. Members of the Church unfamiliar with its history, and many non-members, have set up fallacious reasons for the origin of this system of marriage among the Latter-day Saints.

    The most common of these conjectures is that the Church, through plural marriage, sought to provide husbands for its large surplus of female members. The implied assumption in this theory, that there have been more female than male members in the Church, is not supported by existing evidence. On the contrary, there seem always to have been more males than females in the Church. Families — father, mother, and children — have most commonly joined the Church. Of course, many single women have become converts, but also many single men.

    The United States census records from 1850 to 1940, and all available Church records, uniformly show a preponderance of males in Utah, and in the Church. Indeed, the excess in Utah has usually been larger than for the whole United States, as would be expected in a pioneer state. The births within the Church obey the usual population law – a slight excess of males. Orson Pratt, writing in 1853 from direct knowledge of Utah conditions, when the excess of females was supposedly the highest, declares against the opinion that females outnumbered the males in Utah. The theory that plural marriage was a consequence of a surplus of female Church members fails from lack of evidence.

    Another conjecture is that the people were few in number and that the Church, desiring greater numbers, permitted the practice so that a phenomenal increase in population could be attained. This is not defensible, since there was no surplus of women…”

     

    Census of Population and Housing – https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html

     

     

    References

    References
    1 ‘Evidences and Reconciliations’, John Widtsoe – https://archive.org/details/evidencesreconci03widt
  • Not Going to Stop

    Not Going to Stop

    LDS Official Declaration 1, October 6 1890, Wilford Woodruff: LDS Official Declaration 1 – https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/od/1?lang=eng

    To Whom It May Concern:

    Press dispatches having been sent for political purposes, from Salt Lake City, which have been widely published, to the effect that the Utah Commission, in their recent report to the Secretary of the Interior, allege that plural marriages are still being solemnized and that forty or more such marriages have been contracted in Utah since last June or during the past year, also that in public discourses the leaders of the Church have taught, encouraged and urged the continuance of the practice of polygamy—

    I, therefore, as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice, and I deny that either forty or any other number of plural marriages have during that period been solemnized in our Temples or in any other place in the Territory.

    One case has been reported, in which the parties allege that the marriage was performed in the Endowment House, in Salt Lake City, in the Spring of 1889, but I have not been able to learn who performed the ceremony; whatever was done in this matter was without my knowledge. In consequence of this alleged occurrence the Endowment House was, by my instructions, taken down without delay.

    Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise.

    There is nothing in my teachings to the Church or in those of my associates, during the time specified, which can be reasonably construed to inculcate or encourage polygamy; and when any Elder of the Church has used language which appeared to convey any such teaching, he has been promptly reproved. And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land.

    Wilford Woodruff

    President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

     

    From the Diary of John Henry Smith, May 17 1888: 1

    “Bro. Woodruff spoke a few words again, among them he said [“]We won’t quit practising Plural Marriage until Christ shall come.” F. M. Lyman spoke very nicely. President Woodruff dismissed us by prayer.”

     

    From the Diary of Heber J. Grant, May 17 1888, quoting Wilford Woodruff at the Manti Temple dedication: 2

    “We are not going to stop the practice of plural marriage until the Coming of the Son of Man.”

     

    References

    References
    1 Diaries of John Henry Smith – http://signaturebookslibrary.org/john-henry-smith-3/
    2 LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890 – 1904, D. Michael Quinn – https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/issues/V18N01.pdf
  • Prison

    Prison

    Excerpt from an address given by George Q. Cannon, November 1, 1891, reported by Author Winter. Published in the Deseret Weekly News, November 21, 1891: 1

    “I myself have testified before presidents of the United States before cabinet officers before judges of the Supreme Court before members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives and before committees of Congress, that I knew that doctrine was from God. I told them I felt that if I had not obeyed it I would have been damned because the Lord gave to me a direct command to obey that principle. He was kind enough to reveal this doctrine to me before I ever heard that brother Joseph had received a revelation of that kind he manifested to me that that principle would be revealed to this Church and be practiced by the Church. I have testified to this and have endeavored with my brethren who also have labored in this direction, to convince the nation that we were not overstepping the bounds of the constitution by believing and obeying a doctrine that had been revealed to us.

    Over a thousand have gone to prison to show our sincerity. A prominent official of this Territory said to a gentleman the other day: “They say to me that these people are not sincere.” “Why,” says he, “I know that they are sincere. I went myself to the penitentiary and I labored with all the power I had to convince Lorenzo Snow that he should express his willingness to obey the law; but notwithstanding all my persuasions, and notwithstanding he had a year and a half sentence upon him, I could not move him. I believe he would have gone out and been shot rather than to have said he would get out of prison on such terms. And here is Lorenzo snow going on the stand gland now before the Master in Chancery and testifying as he does; and I know that man is sincere in giving that testimony, for if he had said one-tenth to me what he said to the Master in Chancery, he could have been a free man.”

    We have done everything that we could to persuade the nation that they were doing us injustice in prosecuting us for this, and that the law was an unconstitutional one. Now some say, “Why, look at these Mormon people, how quickly they will do the thing that the President of the Church tells them to do;” and they bring that up as an argument against us, as though we would continue to defy the law until the President said, stop.

    The reason for this a very simple one. We have been acting in this in the fear of God. We believed that it was right to carry this principle out; and if we had been sentenced to be killed, I suppose some would have felt that it was right for us to submit to that rather than yield the principle. God gave the command and it required the command of God to cause us to change our attitude. President Woodruff holds the same authority that the man did through whom the revelation came to the Church. it required that same authority to say to us “it is enough. God has accepted your sacrifice. He has looked down upon you and seen what you have passed through, and how determined you have been to keep his commandments, and now he says it is enough.” It is the same authority that gave us the principle. it is not the word of man.”

     

    Additional Study

    Edmunds Tucker Act, Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmunds–Tucker_Act
    Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah, LDS.org – https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-and-families-in-early-utah?lang=eng

    References

    References
    1 Deseret Weekly News, November 21, 1891, pg. 3 – http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/desnews9/id/26309/rec/1
  • Corrupt Doctrines

    Corrupt Doctrines

    Notice issued by Joseph and Hyrum Smith in the Times and Season paper, February 1, 1844 (at the time Joseph had more than 30 plural wives): 1

    “NOTICE
    As we have lately been credibly informed, that an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter-day Saints, by the name of Hiram Brown, has been preaching polygamy, and other false and corrupt doctrines, in the county of Lapeer, state of Michigan.

    This is to notify him and the Church in general, that he has been cut off from the church, for his iniquity: and he is further notified to appear at the Special Conference, on the 6th of April next, to make answer to these charges.

    JOSEPH SMITH
    HYRUM SMITH
    Presidents of said Church“

    …

    Footnote 24 – LDS Gospel Topic Essay, Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo: 2

    “Careful estimates put the number [of Joseph’s wives] between 30 and 40. See Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, 2:272–73.”

     

    References

    References
    1 Times and Seasons, Thursday, February 1 1844 – http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/NCMP1820-1846/id/8375
    2 LDS Gospel Topic Essay, Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo – https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng
  • We Don’t Have That

    We Don’t Have That

    Excerpt from a 2017 YSA Face to Face with Russell Ballard and Dallin Oaks:1

    MALE HOST:
    “…we have a lot of questions in the YSA about their friends dealing with doubts. A question from Utah asks what advice/guidance would you give for answering tough questions about church history when we are asked about them by someone who is struggling with their faith?”

    OAKS:
    “I think the first thing is to distinguish between questions and doubts. Some people merge those as if they were the same. A question asked with a sincere desire to increase one’s knowledge and understanding is the way to increase knowledge. We encourage questions. On the other hand, a doubt is an ambiguous word. Sometimes a doubt is a synonym for a question—you just want to know the truth about something. One dictionary definition of doubt is “accompanied by distrust, a rejection of something.” That’s the kind of thing that the scriptures have condemned. The savior, for instance, said “oh, thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt?” He said that to his apostles when they were in the midst of the storm. And, “doubt not but be believing,” comes out of Moroni, chapter 9. And “look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not,” that’s Doctrine and Covenants section 6.
    So, doubt is a confusing word. In some aspects we don’t encourage doubt and the scriptures condemn it. On the other hand, questions—sincere desire to know that aren’t accompanied by a presumption of rejection—are something that we wish to encourage.”

    BALLARD:
    “And some are saying that the Church has been hiding the fact that there’s more than one version of the first vision, which is just not true. The facts are we don’t study; we don’t go back and search what has been said on the subject. For example, Dr. James B. Allen of BYU, in 1970 he produced an article for the church magazines explaining all about the different versions of the first vision.”

    OAKS: “How long ago was that article?”

    BALLARD: “1970, that was back in 1970.”

    OAKS: “We’ve been hiding that for a long time…”
    [Audience laughter] [Oaks laughter]

    BALLARD continues:
    “It’s this idea that the Church is hiding something, which we would have to say as two apostles that have covered the world and know the history of the Church and know the integrity of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve from the beginning of time. There has been no attempt on the part, in any way, of the Church leaders trying to hide anything from anybody. Now we’ve had the Joseph smith papers. We didn’t have those where they are in our hands now. And so we’re learning more about the Prophet Joseph. It’s wonderful we are. There’s volumes of it. There’s so much in those books now on my book shelf. Maybe you’ve read them all [gestures toward Oaks], but I haven’t got there. I’m a slow reader. So, just trust us wherever you are in the world, and you share this message with anyone else who raises the question about the Church not being transparent. We’re as transparent as we know how to be in telling the truth. We have to do that. That’s the Lord’s way.”

    Excerpt from a 1978 interview with Apostle Legrand Richards: 2

    WALTERS: “Well I thought somebody said that Joseph Fielding had had Joseph Smith’s seer stone.”
    RICHARDS:”No. We don’t have that.“
    WALTERS:”You don’t have that?”
    RICHARDS:”No.”
    WALTERS:”Oh.”
    RICHARDS::”We have got some of the early writings of the Prophet Joseph and things of that kind, and testimony of when Joseph Smith performed a plural marriage for them, but – things of that kind in the Historian’s office. But we have [unintelligible] church.”
    VLACHOS:”Is the seer stone in the historical department?”
    RICHARDS: “We don’t have a seer stone. That went back with the plates when [unintelligible]”
    WALTERS:”Oh! Okay, I hadn’t heard that. I see. I thought that somebody said that it was still out there somewhere.”
    VLACHOS:”Do you know what it looked like?”
    RICHARDS:”What?”
    VLACHOS:”Do you know what the stone looked like?”
    RICHARDS:”No. I’ve never seen it. And I don’t think there is any living man who has seen it.”

    Excerpt from the October 2015 Ensign, Joseph the Seer: 3

    “After Brigham Young died, one of his wives, Zina D. H. Young, who later became the third Relief Society general president, obtained a chocolate-colored seer stone from his estate that matched descriptions of the stone Joseph used to translate the Book of Mormon, and donated it to the Church.  Since that time, subsequent Church leaders have acknowledged the Church’s ownership of the seer stone.”

    See also:

    Church as transparent as it knows how to be – wasmormon.org
    Joseph Smith and “The” “First” “Vision” – wasmormon.org

    Church as transparent as it knows how to be

    References

    References
    1 Apostle M. Russell Ballard, November 2017, YSA Face to Face – https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/face-to-face/oaks-ballard?cid=HP_SU_19-11-2017_dPFD_fBCAST_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng
    2 Apostle Legrand Richards, August 1978, Interview with Wesley Walters – http://thoughtsonthingsandstuff.com/the-legrand-richards-interview/
    3 Joseph the Seer, October 2015 Ensign – https://www.lds.org/ensign/2015/10/joseph-the-seer?lang=eng
  • Sugarcoat

    Sugarcoat

    Excerpt from the LDS Gospel Topic Essay, Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo: 1

    ‘Most of those sealed to Joseph Smith were between 20 and 40 years of age at the time of their sealing to him. The oldest, Fanny Young, was 56 years old. The youngest was Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Joseph’s close friends Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball, who was sealed to Joseph several months before her 15th birthday.’

    Definition of sugarcoating: 2

    Definition of sugarcoating: to make (something difficult or distasteful) appear more pleasant or acceptable.

    References

    References
    1 Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo, LDS Gospel Topic Essay – https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng
    2 Definition of sugarcoating, Dictionary.com – http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sugarcoat
  • I Can Find Only One

    I Can Find Only One

    Excerpt from ‘Address of the Prophet—His Testimony Against the Dissenters at Nauvoo’ (Sunday, May 26, 1844), shortly before his death:1

    Be meek and lowly, upright and pure; render good for evil. If you bring on yourselves your own destruction, I will complain. It is not right for a man to bare down his neck to the oppressor always. Be humble and patient in all circumstances of life; we shall then triumph more gloriously. What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers. I labored with these apostates myself until I was out of all manner of patience; and then I sent my brother Hyrum, whom they virtually kicked out of doors.

    Footnote 24 – LDS Gospel Topic Essay, ‘Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo’:2

    Careful estimates put the number between 30 and 40. See Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, 2:272–73.

    References

    References
    1 History of the Church vol. 6, p. 411 – https://byustudies.byu.edu/history-of-the-church
    2 LDS Gospel Topic Essay, ‘Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo’ – https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng
  • Angel and Sword

    Angel and Sword

    Excerpt from the ‘Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo’, LDS Gospel Topic Essay:1

    “When God commands a difficult task, He sometimes sends additional messengers to encourage His people to obey. Consistent with this pattern, Joseph told associates that an angel appeared to him three times between 1834 and 1842 and commanded him to proceed with plural marriage when he hesitated to move forward. During the third and final appearance, the angel came with a drawn sword, threatening Joseph with destruction unless he went forward and obeyed the commandment fully.”

    Below are several references to the angel and sword commanding plural marriage of Joseph.

    Excerpt from the ‘Autobiography of Benjamin F. Johnson’: 2

    “He had asked me to bring my sister to the city, which I soon did, where he saw her at my sister’s, the Widow Sherman, who had already been sealed to him by proxy. His brother, Hyrum, said to me, “Now, Brother Benjamin, you know that Brother Joseph would not sanction this if it was not from the Lord. The Lord revealed this to Brother Joseph long ago, and he put it off until the Angel of the Lord came to him with a drawn sword and told him that he would be slain if he did not go forth and fulfill the law.” He told my sister to have no fears, and he there and then sealed my sister, Almira, to the Prophet.”

    Excerpt from the ‘Life of Heber C. Kimball’: 3

    “A grand and glorious principle had been revealed, and for years had slumbered in the breast of God’s Prophet, awaiting the time when, with safety to himself and the Church, it might be confided to the sacred keeping of a chosen few. That time had now come. An angel with a flaming sword descended from the courts of glory and, confronting the Prophet, commanded him in the name of the Lord to establish the principle so long concealed from the knowledge of the Saints and of the world—that of plural marriage.”

    Excerpt from ‘The Testimony of Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner’, (Mary, 23, was married to Adam Lightner at the time Joseph took her as a plural wife): 4

    “I know whereon I stand, I know what I believe, I know what I know and I know what I testify to you is the living truth. As I expect to meet it at the bar of the eternal Jehovah, it is true. And when you stand before the bar you will know. He preached polygamy and he not only preached it, but he practiced it. I am a living witness to it. It was given to him before he gave it to the Church. An angel came to him and the last time he came with a drawn sword in his hand and told Joseph if he did not go into that principle, he would slay him.

    …”Well,” said I, “don’t you think it was an angel of the devil that told you these things?” Said he, “No, it was an angel of God. God Almighty showed me the difference between an angel of light and Satan’s angels. The angel came to me three times between the years of 1834 and 1842 and said I was to obey that principle or he would slay me.

    Excerpt from ‘Wilford Woodruff’s Journal’: 5

    “An Angel of God Stood by him (Joseph Smith) with a drawn Sword and told him he should be slain & Cut off from the Earth and the kingdom of God if he did not obey that Law (of polygamy). George Q Cannon was of the same opinion, that a man must have more then one wife at a time in order to obey that Law.”

     

     

    References

    References
    1 ‘Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo’, LDS Gospel Topic Essay – https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng
    2 The Autobiography of Benjamin F. Johnson – http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/BFJohnson.html
    3 Life of Heber C. Kimball, pg 321-325 –https://archive.org/details/LifeOfHeberC.Kimball
    4 The Testimony of Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner –http://www.ldshistory.us/pc/merlbyu.htm
    5 Wilford Woodruff’s Journal Vol. 8, pg 235 –https://bcgmaxwell.wordpress.com/2014/12/12/wilford-woodruff-journal-volume-8/
  • Section 132

    Section 132

    Image: Portrait of Emma Smith, wife of Joseph Smith Jr.

    *Post with commentary*

    The polygamy revelation in D&C 132 [footnote]Doctrine and Covenants 132 – LDS.org[/footnote] has been a ‘hot potato’ the LDS church has had to constantly juggle. Discard it—you lose a pillar of celestial marriage doctrine. Keep it—you canonize an abusive practice.

    This year’s (2017) official Sunday School lesson manual deftly avoids any mention of polygamy, cherry picking verses 7, 19–24, 30–31. It instructs the teacher to avoid discussing polygamy and instead focus on the concept of eternal marriage. I am going to look at the bits you might have missed in Sunday School.

    The setting.
    The revelation regarding polygamy was recorded in the summer of 1843. At the time Joseph had over 20 wives, several of whom were already married to other men. Emma, only recently made aware of (some of) Joseph’s polygamous unions was resistant the doctrine. Exasperated with Emma’s stubbornness, Joseph restricted her from receiving the endowment, unless she ‘acquiesce to the request’. Two days after Emma’s birthday (July 12), Hyrum told Joseph ‘If you will write the revelation on Celestial Marriage, I will take and read it to Emma, and I believe I can convince her of its truth, and you will hereafter have peace.’ At which point Joseph dictated the revelation to William Clayton “sentence by sentence.” Upon returning from delivering the revelation to Emma, Hyrum recounted that “I have never received a more severe talking to in my life.” To which Joseph replied “I told you you did not know Emma as well as I did.”

    So with that context in mind, section 132 will start to become clearer. I recommend reading it in its entirety.

    The context of the 1843 revelation is about polygamy and concubinage.

    “1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines—”

    Here we also learn that polygamy is considered doctrinal, and later a law. Note that Isaac only had one wife, Rebekah.

     

    The ‘new and everlasting covenant’ was synonymous with polygamy. Though later expanded to include other rites and ordinances.

    “For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.”

    “6 And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory…”

    Brigham Young and other early leaders often taught that polygamy was a requirement for highest exaltation.
    “The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy.” – Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol.11, p.268 – p.269

     

    Those who don’t marry under the law or who are single, become servants for those married under the law.

    “16 Therefore, when they [those who marry outside of the covenant] are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.”

    “17 For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.”

    “20 …Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.”

    The theology at this point hadn’t evolved to include eternal progression or post-death unions. Rather, condemning the unwed to eternal servitude.

     

    Women are said to be GIVEN and TAKEN throughout the revelation. (Emphasis added)

    “37 Abraham RECEIVED concubines, and they bore him children…”

    “38 David also RECEIVED many wives and concubines…”

    “39 David’s wives and concubines were GIVEN unto him of me…”

    “44 …then shall you [Joseph] have power…to TAKE her and GIVE her unto him that hath not committed adultery.”

    “62 And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they BELONG to him, and they are GIVEN unto him; therefore is he justified.”

     

    The lord condones David’s & Solomon’s polygamy in D&C after condemning it in the Book of Mormon.

    “37 Abraham received concubines, and they bore him children; and it was accounted unto him for righteousness…”

    “38 David also received many wives and concubines and also Solomon…and in nothing did they sin save in those things which they received not of me.”

    “Jacob 2:24 Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord…”

     

    If a wife’s husband commits adultery, Joseph has the power to ’take and give her’ to another man.

    “44 And if she hath not committed adultery, but is innocent and hath not broken her vow, and she knoweth it, and I reveal it unto you, my servant Joseph, then shall you have power, by the power of my Holy Priesthood, to take her and give her unto him that hath not committed adultery but hath been faithful; for he shall be made ruler over many.”

    …

    Emma may have threatened to practice plural marriage herself.

    “51 Verily, I say unto you: A commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to prove you all, as I did Abraham, and that I might require an offering at your hand, by covenant and sacrifice.”

    “54 And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else…”

    From William Clayton’s journal, “This A.M. President Joseph took me and conversed considerable concerning some delicate matters. Said [Emma] wanted to lay a snare for me. He told me last night of this and said he had felt troubled. He said [Emma] had treated him coldly and badly since I came…and he knew she was disposed to be revenged on him for some things. She thought that if he would indulge himself she would too.”

    …

    The lord threatens to destroy Emma, unless she falls in line.

    “54 And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abide not in my law.”

    “64 And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, if any man have a wife, who holds the keys of this power, and he teaches unto her the law of my priesthood, as pertaining to these things, then shall she believe and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your God; for I will destroy her; for I will magnify my name upon all those who receive and abide in my law.”

    …

    If you lie about being a virgin you shall be destroyed.

    “52 And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and have said they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God.”

     

    The lord tells Emma to forgive Joseph his indiscretions.

    “56 And again, verily I say, let mine handmaid forgive my servant Joseph his trespasses; and then shall she be forgiven her trespasses, wherein she has trespassed against me…”

     

    Joseph establishes rules for plural marriage… and then breaks them.

    “61 …if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else.”

    “62 And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified.”

    “63 But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth…”

    1 – The first wife must give consent (Law of Sarah)—Emma only approved of perhaps 4 of Josephs 34+ wives.
    2 – They must be virgins and not married—Though Joseph married virgins, he also married other mens wives.
    3 – The purpose of polygamy is to ‘multiply and replenish the earth’—Not only did Joseph avoid producing offspring through these polygamous unions, later polygamous practices often resulted in fewer children.

     

    If Emma is still resistant to polygamy she has transgressed and Joseph doesn’t have to get her consent.

    “65 Therefore, it shall be lawful in me, if she receive not this law, for him to receive all things whatsoever I, the Lord his God, will give unto him, because she did not believe and administer unto him according to my word; and she then becomes the transgressor; and he is exempt from the law of Sarah, who administered unto Abraham according to the law when I commanded Abraham to take Hagar to wife.”

    Crash Course:

    Remembering the Wives of Joseph Smith – Wives of Joseph Smith
    Did Emma Smith approve of polygamy?
    D&C 132: A revelation of men, not God – Mormon Stories
    Doctrine and Covenants 132 – Joseph Smith Papers
    Year of Polygamy (Podcast) 

     

  • Give and Take

    Give and Take

    Image: LDS Temple sealing room

    Excerpt from the LDS temple marriage ceremony (sealing of spouses). [footnote]The LDS Endowment, Sealings [/footnote]

    [The sealer sits at the head of the altar with two witnesses, one seated at his right and the other at his left. The bride and groom kneel at opposite sides of the altar, facing one another, clothed in the robes of the holy priesthood. They take each other by the right hand in the patriarchal grip.]

    SEALER: Brother _________, do you take Sister _________ by the right hand and receive her unto yourself to be your lawfully wedded wife, for time and all eternity, with a covenant and promise that you will observe and keep all the laws, rites, and ordinances pertaining to this holy order of matrimony in the new and everlasting covenant; and this you do in the presence of God, angels, and these witnesses of your own free will and choice?

    GROOM: Yes.

    SEALER: Sister _________, do you take Brother _________ by the right hand and give yourself to him to be his lawfully wedded wife, and receive him to be your lawfully wedded husband, for time and all eternity, with a covenant and promise that you will observe and keep all the laws, rites, and ordinances pertaining to this holy order of matrimony in the new and everlasting covenant; and this you do in the presence of God, angels, and these witnesses of your own free will and choice?

    BRIDE: Yes.

    SEALER: By virtue of the holy priesthood and the authority vested in me, I pronounce you, _________ and _________, legally and lawfully husband and wife for time and all eternity; and I seal upon you the blessings of the holy resurrection, with power to come forth in the morning of the first resurrection, clothed in glory, immortality, and eternal lives.
    I seal upon you the blessings of kingdoms, thrones, principalities, powers, dominions, and exaltations, with all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and say unto you: be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, that you may have joy and rejoicing in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

    All these blessings, together with all the blessings appertaining unto the new and everlasting covenant, I seal upon you by virtue of the holy priesthood, through your faithfulness, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

     

    Crash Course:

    The LDS Endowment, Sealings

    Temple Oaths – Mormon Think

    Mormonism and Masonry (Podcast) – Mormon Expressions

    Occultic and Masonic Influence in Early Mormonism

    Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo – LDS.org

  • Testimony

    Testimony

    Image: Portrayal of a traditional LDS testimony meeting. 

    Testimony excerpt of a member of The True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days:[footnote]Spiritual Witnesses, 10:00-10:52 (video) – Youtube[/footnote]

    “I’ve been searching for a witness of this work and of this church and just tonight I got my witness and it’s burning within my soul how important this work is and how true it is. I know it is. And it’s hard to believe that just a year ago I was in high school and now I am in a plural marriage and struggling. But I know without a shadow of a doubt, that this is the lords work. That I’ve finally found it. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.”

    ‘Spiritual Witnesses’  video, a compilation of testimonies of various people describing their feelings and devotion to their religions.

     

     


    Crash Course:

    Spiritual Witnesses, 10:00-10:52 (video) – Youtube
    Testimony & Spiritual Witnesses – Mormon Think
    FLDS Sister Wife K Jeffs bears testimony (Audio) – Youtube
    FLDS Sister Wife S. Steed Bears Testimony (Audio) – Youtube

  • Teen Brides of Early Mormon Prophets

    Teen Brides of Early Mormon Prophets

    Joseph Smith Jr.

    From the LDS Gospel Topic Essay, Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo found on LDS.org.

    ‘The youngest [of Joseph’s brides] was Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Joseph’s close friends Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball, who was sealed to Joseph several months before her 15th birthday.’

    Teen Brides of Joseph Smith Jr. – List of Joseph Smiths Wives – Wikipedia

    Fanny Alger—16  (JSJ—27 )
    Sarah Ann Whitney—17  (JSJ—36 )
    Flora Ann Woodworth—16  (JSJ—37 )
    Emily Dow Partridge—19  (JSJ—37 )
    Lucy Walker—17  (JSJ—37 )
    Sarah Lawrence—17  (JSJ—37 )
    Maria Lawrence—19  (JSJ—37 )
    Helen Mar Kimball—14  (JSJ—37 )
    Melissa Lott—19  (JSJ—37 )
    Nancy Mariah Winchester—14  (JSJ—37 )

    Brigham Young

    Teen Brides of Brigham Young – List of Brigham Young’s Wives – Wikipedia

    Miriam Angeline Works—18  (BY—23 )
    Harriet Elizabeth Cook —19  (BY—42 )
    Clarissa Caroline Decker —15  (BY—42 )
    Elizabeth Fairchild —16  (BY—43 )
    Diana Chase —17  (BY—43 )
    Emmeline Free —18  (BY—43 )
    Ellen Rockwood —16  (BY—44 )
    Mary Ann Turley —18  (BY—44 )
    Lucy Bigelow —16  (BY—45 )
    Mary Jane Bigelow —19  (BY—45 )

    Lorenzo Snow

    Teen Brides of Lorenzo Snow – Lorenzo Snow – Wikipedia

    Charlotte Squires—18  (LS—30 )
    Sarah Ann Prichard—18  (LS—31 )
    Eleanor Houtz—17  (LS—34 )
    Mary Elizabeth Houtz—17  (LS—43 )
    Phoebe Amelia Woodruff—16  (LS—44 )
    Sara Minnie Ephramina Jensen—16  (LS—57 )

    Wilford Woodruff

    Teen Brides of Wilford Woodruff – Wilford Woodruff – Wikipedia

    Sarah Elinor Brown—18  (WW—39 )
    Mary Caroline Barton—17  (WW—39 )
    Emma Smoot Smith—15  (WW—46 )
    Sarah Brown—19  (WW—46 )
    Sarah Delight Stocking—19  (WW—50 )

    —
    Nuptiality Measures for the White Population of the United States, 1850–1880 – Nuptiality Measures for the White Population of the United States, 1850–1880

    1850….Male 26.8—Female 23.1
    1860….Male 26.9—Female 22.8
    1870….Male 26.8—Female 23.2
    1880….Male 27.1—Female 23.4

    Crash Course:

    Year of Polygamy Podcast – The series follows the Mormon faith through the lens of “The Principle of Plural Marriage”.
    Joseph Smith’s Polygamy – Discusses Joseph Smith’s introduction of polygamy into early Mormon Church.
    Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism – D. Michael Quinn
    Polygamy – Mormon Think

  • Destroy the Press

    Destroy the Press

    The Nauvoo Expositor was a newspaper in Nauvoo, Illinois, that published only one issue, on June 7, 1844. Its publication set off a chain of events that led to the death of Latter Day Saint prophet Joseph Smith.

    The Expositor was founded by several seceders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and some non-Mormons in the Nauvoo area. The single edition of the newspaper was critical of Smith and other church leaders. Specifically, Smith was criticized for teaching doctrines such as plural marriage and exaltation.

    In response to the newspaper’s publication, Smith and the Nauvoo City Council declared the paper a public nuisance, and ordered the press destroyed. The town marshal carried out the order during the evening of June 10.[footnote]Nauvoo Expositor – Wikipedia[/footnote]

    The order Joseph Smith gave for the destruction of the printing press:[footnote]History of the Church, vol. 6, page 448[/footnote]

    To the Marshall of said City, greeting.
    You are here commanded to destroy the printing press from whence issues the Nauvoo Expositor, and pi the type of said printing establishment; and if any resistance be offered to your execution of this order by the owners or others, demolish the house; and if anyone threatens you or the Mayor or the officers of the city, arrest who threaten you, and fail not to execute this order without delay, and make due return hereon.

    By Order of the City Council,
    Joseph Smith, Mayor 

    Interestingly enough though the single paper printed by the Expositor was critical, most all of the claims in the publication were accurate.[footnote]Defending the Expositor: On Penalty of Death… – Thoughts on Things and Stuff[/footnote]

     

     

    Crash Course:

    The Navoo Expositor single publication
    The Nauvoo Expositor – Mormon Think
    Defending the Expositor: On Penalty of Death… – Thoughts on Things and Stuff

  • Jeffs and Joseph

    Jeffs and Joseph

    Image: Polygamist FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs.

    From the LDS church’s Gospel Topic Essay ‘Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo’ [footnote]Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo – LDS.org [/footnote]

    ‘Careful estimates put the number {of wives} between 30 and 40.’

    ‘The youngest was Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Joseph’s close friends Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball, who was sealed to Joseph several months before her 15th birthday.’

    ‘Joseph Smith was sealed to a number of women who were already married.’

    ‘Several Latter-day Saints who had lived in Kirtland reported decades later that Joseph Smith had married Alger, who lived and worked in the Smith household…’ (Fanny Alger was ~16 at the time)

    Joseph Smith’s plural marriages:

    Wife Date Age Husband
    Emma Hale Jan 1827 22 –
    Fanny Alger 1833 16 –
    Lucinda Morgan Harris 1838 37 George W. Harris
    Louisa Beaman Apr 1841 26 –
    Zina Huntington Jacobs Oct 1841 20 Henry Jacobs
    Presendia Huntington Buell Dec 1841 31 Norman Buell
    Agnes Coolbrith Jan 1842 33 –
    Sylvia Sessions Lyon Feb 1842 23 Windsor Lyon
    Mary Rollins Lightner Feb 1842 23 Adam Lightner
    Patty Bartlett Sessions Mar 1842 47 David Sessions
    Marinda Johnson Hyde Apr 1842 27 Orson Hyde
    Elizabeth Davis Durfee Jun 1842 50 Jabez Durfee
    Sarah Kingsley Cleveland Jun 1842 53 John Cleveland
    Delcena Johnson Jul 1842 37 –
    Eliza R. Snow Jun 1842 38 –
    Sarah Ann Whitney Jul 1842 17 –
    Martha McBride Knight Aug 1842 37 –
    Ruth Vose Sayers Feb 1843 33 Edward Sayers
    Flora Ann Woodworth Spring 1843 16 –
    Emily Dow Partridge Mar 1843 19 –
    Eliza Maria Partridge Mar 1843 22 –
    Almera Johnson Apr 1843 30 –
    Lucy Walker May 1843 17 –
    Sarah Lawrence May 1843 17 –
    Maria Lawrence May 1843 19 –
    Helen Mar Kimball May 1843 14 –
    Hanna Ells Mid 1843 29 –
    Elvira Cowles Holmes Jun 1843 29 Jonathan Holmes
    Rhoda Richards Jun 1843 58 –
    Desdemona Fullmer Jul 1843 32 –
    Olive Frost Mid 1843 27 –
    Melissa Lott Sep 1843 19 –
    Nancy Winchester 1843 14 –
    Fanny Young Nov 1843 56 –

    Crash Course:

    Year of Polygamy Podcast – The series follows the Mormon faith through the lens of “The Principle of Plural Marriage”.

    Joseph Smith’s Polygamy – Discusses Joseph Smith’s introduction of polygamy into early Mormon Church.

    Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism – D. Michael Quinn

    The Wives of Joseph Smith

  • Filthy Affair

    Filthy Affair

    Frances Ward (“Fanny”) Alger Custer (September 30, 1816 – November 29, 1889) is generally considered as Joseph Smiths first plural wife. Although undocumented, the marriage of Fanny and Joseph most likely took place in Kirtland, Ohio sometime in 1833 (before sealing authority had been restored). She would have been sixteen years old at the time.

    Joseph kept his marriage to Fanny out of the view of the public, and his wife Emma. Chauncey Webb recounted Emma’s later discovery of the relationship: “Emma was furious, and drove the girl, who was unable to conceal the consequences of her celestial relation with the prophet, out of her house”. Ann Eliza again recalled: “…it was felt that [Emma] certainly must have had some very good reason for her action. By degrees it became whispered about that Joseph’s love for his adopted daughter was by no means a paternal affection, and his wife, discovering the fact, at once took measures to place the girl beyond his reach…Since Emma refused decidedly to allow her to remain in her house…my mother offered to take her until she could be sent to her relatives…” [footnote] Fanny Alger – Wives of Joseph Smith  [/footnote]

    In January 1838, some months after the Algers had left Kirtland, Oliver Cowdery wrote his brother concerning his indignation at Smith’s relationship with Alger. Cowdery said he had discussed with Smith the “dirty, nasty, filthy affair of his and Fanny Alger’s … in which I strictly declared that I had never deserted from the truth in the matter, and as I supposed was admitted by himself.” [footnote] Oliver Cowdery, Letter to Warren A. Cowdery (Oliver’s brother), January 21, 1838  [/footnote]

     

    Crash Course:

    Year of Polygamy Podcast – The series follows the Mormon faith through the lens of “The Principle of Plural Marriage”.

    Joseph Smith’s Polygamy – Discusses Joseph Smith’s introduction of polygamy into early Mormon Church.

    Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism – D. Michael Quinn

    Fanny Alger – The Wives of Joseph Smith

  • Fair Shake

    Fair Shake

    Image: Image of Polygamist FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs and his wives [footnote] Warren Jeffs – Wikipedia   [/footnote]

    From an April 17, 1860 New York Times article, ‘Polygamy and its Fruits'[footnote] The New York Times, April 17, 1860   [/footnote]and later published in Stanley P. Hirshson’s, The Lion of the Lord[footnote] The Lion of the Lord: A Biography of Brigham Young – Amazon   [/footnote]:

    ‘Some time ago HEBER KIMBALL was lecturing some missionaries who were preparing to start out on foreign missions, in the Tabernacle, and said to them: “Brethren, I want you to understand that it is not to be as it has been heretofore. The brother Missionaries have been in the habit of picking out the prettiest women for themselves before they get here, and bringing on the ugly ones for us; hereafter you have to bring them all here before taking any of them, and let us all have a fair shake.” The old reprobate then had at least a score of women whom he called wives.’

    Additional quotes by Heber C. Kimball regarding polygamy:

    “Here we are brother Joseph; we are here ourselves are we not, with none of the property we possessed in our probationary state…He will say to us, “Come along, my boys, we will give you a good suit of clothes. Where are your wives?” “They are back yonder; they would not follow us.” “Never mind,” says Joseph, “here are thousands, have all you want.” [footnote] Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 4:209   [/footnote]

    “It is believed in the world that our females are all common women. Well, in one sense, they are common- that is, they are like all other women, I suppose; but they are not unclean, for we wipe all the unclean ones from our midst: we do not only wipe them from our streets, but we wipe them out of existence.” [footnote] Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses vol 7 talk on sanctification.   [/footnote]

    “It is the duty of a woman to be obedient to her husband, and unless she is, I would not give a damn for all her queenly right and authority” [footnote] Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 4:8   [/footnote]

    “Plurality of wives is a law established by God forever. It would be easier for the United States to build a tower to remove the sun as to remove polygamy.” [footnote] Heber C. Kimball, Millennial Star, vol. 28, p. 190   [/footnote]

    Crash Course:

    Year of Polygamy Podcast – The series follows the Mormon faith through the lens of “The Principle of Plural Marriage”.
    Joseph Smith’s Polygamy – Discusses Joseph Smith’s introduction of polygamy into early Mormon Church.
    Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism – D. Michael Quinn