Polygamy/Did early Church leaders speak of plural marriage difficulties

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Contents

Criticism

  • Critics claim that early Church leaders "admitted" that there were many difficulties with plural marriage that caused "problems" and "great sorrow."
  • "The fact that plural marriage brought great sorrow to many of the women involved can hardly be denied. Heber C. Kimball once stated: 'There is a great deal of quarelling in the houses, and contending for power and authority; and the second wife is against the first wife, perhaps, in some instances'" (Tanners/Abanes)

See also: Source(s) of the criticism

Response

In an attempt to make it appear that families practicing plural marriage were experiencing "great sorrow," critics quote early Church leaders. For example, Heber C. Kimball is quoted as saying:

There is a great deal of quarrelling in the houses, and contending for power and authority; and the second wife is against the first wife, perhaps, in some instances.[1]

A quote from Brigham Young appears to confirm these concerns:

A few years ago one of my wives, when talking about wives leaving their husbands said, 'I wish my husband's wives would leave him, every soul of them except myself.[2]

This is a case, however, of removing quotes from their context in order to make it appear that they are saying something other than that which the speaker intended. Looking at Heber C. Kimball's quote in context, we see:

Why do I keep talking these things over? Because I want you to understand them and get the Spirit of God and let its peaceable influence be upon you; then you will know the spirit of men and things. Read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and every other good book, and keep busy at some good thing or other, and stop your quarrelling. There is a great deal of quarrelling in the houses, and contending for power and authority; and the second wife is against the first wife, perhaps, in some instances. But that is done away in my family, and there is none of it in brother Brigham's, nor in brother Wells', nor in any family where they have common sense.

Elder Kimball was talking about the need to avoid quarrelling in the home by allowing the Spirit of God to provide a positive influence. His mention of plural marriage was not the main focus of his comments, but an example to illustrate his point. He certainly was not relating any sort of experience within his own family, nor was he commenting on the "sorrows" of plural marriage.

Brigham Young's quote was taken from a discourse regarding respecting women.

I will now pass to my third text. I can say with confidence, that there is no people on the face of this earth that pay more respect to females than do this people. I know of no community where females enjoy the privileges they do here. If any one of them is old and withered and so dried up that you have to put weights on her skirts to keep her from blowing away, she is so privileged that she is in everybody's dish or platter—her nose is everywhere present—and still she will go home and tell her husband that she is slighted. Here we see the marked effect of the curse that was in the beginning placed upon woman, their desire is to their husbands all the time. It is also written, "and he shall rule over you." Now put the two together. Nobody else must be spoken to, no other body must be danced with, no other lady must sit at the head of the table with her husband.
A few years ago one of my wives, when talking about wives leaving their husbands said, "I wish my husband's wives would leave him, every soul of them except myself." That is the way they all feel, more or less, at times, both old and young. The ladies of seventy, seventy-five, eighty, and eighty-five years of age are greeted here with the same cheerfulness as are the rest. All are greeted with kindness, respect, and gentleness, no matter whether they wear linsey or silks and satin, they are all alike respected and beloved according to their behaviour; at least they are so far as I am concerned.

Again, this sermon hardly qualifies as a discourse regarding the "problems" and "sorrows" of plural marriage.

Conclusion

Plural marriage was a social institution with unique difficulties and challenges. Critics often do not fairly represent the experience of 19th century members. Texts and the experiences they represent should be presented honestly and accurately.

Endnotes

  1. [back] Heber C. Kimball, "THE BODY OF CHRIST—PARABLE OF THE VINE—A WILD ENTHUSIASTIC SPIRIT NOT OF GOD—THE SAINTS SHOULD NOT UNWISELY EXPOSE EACH OTHERS' FOLLIES," (January 11, 1857) Journal of Discourses 4:178.
  2. [back] Brigham Young, "ROBBING THE DEAD—DANCING, NOT A PART OF THE SAINTS' RELIGION—KINDNESS IN GOVERNMENT—MORE TELEGRAPHIC WIRES," (February 9, 1862) Journal of Discourses 9:195.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

Plural marriage wiki links

Scriptural and doctrinal issues

Joseph Smith

Youth
Beginnings
Emma
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Controversies

Other Nauvoo period

Utah period

Cessation of plural marriage

Reviews and theories

Lying about polygamy?

FAIR web site

Plural marriage FAIR links
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Polyandry FAIR link
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Polygamy FAIR link
  • Suzanne Armitage, "O that my voice could reach the ears of those uninformed and misinformed." FAIR link
  • Claudia Bushman, "Lives of Mormon Women," FAIR presentation transcript, 2006. FAIR link
  • Michael W. Fordham, 'Ask the Apologist'—Plural Marriage in the Book of Mormon and D&C" FAIR link
  • Gregory Smith, "Polygamy, Prophets, and Prevarication: Frequently and Rarely Asked Questions about the Initiation, Practice, and Cessation of Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." FAIR link PDF link (Key source)
  • Allen Wyatt, "Zina and Her Men: An Examination of the Changing Marital State of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young," FAIR presentation transcript, 2006. FAIR link (Key source)

External links

Plural marriage on-line articles
  • James B. Allen, "Line upon Line," Ensign (July 1979): 32–40. off-site
  • Edwin B. Firmage, "The Judicial Campaign against Polygamy and the Enduring Legal Questions," Brigham Young University Studies 27:3 (Summer 1987): 91–113. PDF link
  • Danel Bachman, Ronald K. Esplin, "Plural Marriage," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 3:1091–1095. off-site off-site off-site
  • Stephen R. Gibson, "Does the Book of Mormon Forbid Polygamy," lightplanet.com. off-site
  • Gordon Irving, "The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830–1900," Brigham Young University Studies 14:3 (Spring 1974): 291–314. PDF link
  • Stephen E. Robinson, Are Mormons Christians? (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1993), 90–96. off-site FAIR link (subscript. required) GospeLink
  • Gilbert W. Scharffs, The Truth About “The Godmakers”: A Response to an Inaccurate Portrayal of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1986). FAIR link
  • Gregory L. Smith, "'Days of Miracle and Wonder': The Faith of Sam Harris and the End of Religion, a review of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris," FARMS Review 20/1 (2008): 147–174. off-site PDF link wiki
  • W. John Walsh, "Is Plural Marriage Necessary for Exaltation?" off-site
  • Mormon-polygamy.org off-site

Printed material

Plural marriage printed references
  • Danel W. Bachman, “A Study of the Mormon Practice of Polygamy Before the Death of Joseph Smith,” (1975) (unpublished M.A. thesis, Purdue University).
  • Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1997), 1. ISBN 156085085X. Reviews
  • Reviews of In Sacred Loneliness:
    • Richard Lloyd Anderson and Scott H. Faulring, "The Prophet Joseph Smith and His Plural Wives (Review of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith)," FARMS Review of Books 10/2 (1998): 67–104. off-site PDF link
    • Alma G. Allred, “Variations on a Theme,” Presentation to Mormon History Association, 1999, updated on-line version of 6 December 1999. PDF link
    • Danel W. Bachman, “’Let No One…Set On My Servant Joseph’: Religious Historians Missing the Lessons of Religious History,” Presentation to Mormon History Association, 22 May 1999. PDF link
    • Danel W. Bachman, "Prologue to the Study of Joseph Smith's Marital Theology (Review of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith)," FARMS Review of Books 10/2 (1998): 105–137. off-site PDF link
    • Kathryn Daynes, “Review of In Sacred Loneliness,” Pacific Historical Review 68 (August 1999): 466–468.
    • Todd Compton's response to Anderson, Faulring and Bachman Reviews in FARMS Review of In Sacred Loneliness off-site
    • Todd Compton's response to Jerald and Sandra Tanners' Review of In Sacred Loneliness off-site
  • Kathryn M. Daynes, More Wives than One: Transformation of the Mormon Marriage System, 1840–1910 (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2001), 1. ISBN 0252026810.
  • Stephen R. Gibson, One-Minute Answers to Anti-Mormon Questions (Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers, 1995).
  • Jeni Broberg Holzapfel and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, eds., A Woman's View: Helen Mar Whitney's Reminiscences of Early Church History (Provo: Religious Studies Center, BYU, 1997). ISBN 1570083576. ISBN 978-1570083570. (subscript. required) GospeLink
  • Joseph Fielding McConkie, Answers: Straightforward Answers to Tough Gospel Questions (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1998), 27–28. (subscript. required) GospeLink
  • Ugo A. Perego, Natalie M. Myres, and Scott R. Woodward, 'Reconstructing the Y-Chromosome of Joseph Smith: Genealogical Applications," Journal of Mormon History 31/3 (Fall 2005): 42-60. (Discusses how DNA shows that the parentage of Moroni Pratt, Zebulon Jacobs, and Orrison Smith is not through Joseph Smith).
  • John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations: Aids to Faith in a Modern Day, arranged by G. Homer Durham (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1960) 340–344. (subscript. required) GospeLink
  • John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations: Aids to Faith in a Modern Day, arranged by G. Homer Durham (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1960) 390–393. (subscript. required) GospeLink
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