Joseph Smith, Jr. and polygamy

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Joseph Smith, Jr.

1805 to 1827 - 1827 to 1830
1831 to 1834 - 1835 to 1838
1838 to 1842 - 1842 to 1844
Death - Polygamy - Teachings
Prophecies - Bibliography

Historians widely agree that Joseph Smith, Jr. taught and practiced polygamy.[1] This position is supported by "sealing" records, public marriage licenses (in many cases notarized), affidavits, letters, journals and diaries.[2] Smith's son, Joseph Smith III, and most members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS, now called the Community of Christ) disagreed with the evidence presented and taught that Joseph Smith opposed the practice of polygamy (Whitmer 1887).

Contents

[edit] Background

Smith is attributed with the 1843 polygamy revelation of July 12, 1843, published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Utah in 1852. Unable to produce the original document, Brigham Young declared that Emma Smith had burned it[3]. To this Emma Smith replied that she had never seen such a document, and added concerning the story that she had destroyed the original: "It is false in all its parts, made out of whole cloth, without any foundation in truth."[4]. The document states that Christ had proclaimed a “new and an everlasting covenant” with his followers that sanctions the practice of polygamy or plural marriage, and outlined the requirements to live in the highest glory of the celestial heaven. The document contains numerous Biblical references to and justifications of polygamy, as well as the demand that Smith's first wife, Emma, accept all of Smith's plural wives, and warns of damnation if the new covenant is not observed.[5] The revelation states that plural wives "are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfill 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."[6] According to the LDS publication The Contributor, Smith later said:

"The same God that has thus far dictated to me and directed me and strengthened me in this work, gave me this revelation and commandment on celestial and plural marriage, and the same God commanded me to obey it. He said to me that unless I accepted it, and introduced it, and practiced it, I, together with my people would be damned and cut off from this time henceforth. We have got to observe it. It is an eternal principle and was given by way of commandment and not by way of instruction."[7]

During Smith's life he publicly preached and wrote against it;[8] however, records indicate that dozens of plural marriages were performed by Smith before his death in 1844.[citation needed] Additionally, Smith was sealed to individuals during his life and after his death (by proxy) (Compton 1997). Latter Day Saint movement denominations disagree as to the impact and meaning of these records. In the latter part of his life, Joseph Smith taught that all humans must be united or sealed to each other. He taught that a marriage that extends after death is also called "sealing" and that the power to perform such ceremonies was initially held only by him; members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) believe that Smith later passed the authority on to others.

[edit] Controversy over polygamy accusations

Though the LDS church teaches that Joseph Smith taught plural marriage, some of the smaller branches of the Latter Day Saint movement reject this position. The strongest support for this rejection comes from Latter Day Saints that are currently or formerly associated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

[edit] Joseph Smith III

The first leader of the RLDS Church, a different denomination than the Utah-based LDS church, was Joseph Smith's oldest son Joseph Smith III. Smith III's ideas about his father and polygamy evolved throughout his life (Launius 1988, pp. 190-267). However, at one point in his life, he stated,

"If it be true that Joseph Smith did teach and practice polygamy contrary to the law of the Church, he was most certainly a transgressor. Nor would his sanction of the doctrine make it a legitimate ordinance in the Church of Christ. In proof that Joseph Smith did teach and practice such a doctrine I should want more reliable testimony than can be had from the polygamous wives of Brigham Young."[citation needed]

Joseph Smith III was an ardent opponent of the practice of plural marriage throughout his life. For all of his tenure as Prophet-President of his church, Smith denied that his father had been involved in the practice and insisted that it had originated with LDS Church leader Brigham Young. Smith III served many missions to the western United States where he met with and interviewed associates and some of the alleged wives of his father who attempted to present him with evidence to the contrary. In the end, Smith concluded that he was "not positive nor sure that [his father] was innocent" and that if, indeed, the elder Smith had been involved, it was still a false practice (Launius 1988, p. 208).

[edit] Joseph F. Smith

In the late nineteenth century, the origins of polygamy was one issue among many that RLDS and LDS fought over to assert their organization's legitimacy over the other. Joseph F. Smith, sixth president of the LDS Church, stated in responding to the claim that polygamy originated with Brigham Young rather than Joseph Smith, Jr.:

“A careful reading of the revelation on plural marriage should convince any honest man that it was never written by Brigham Young, as it contains references to Joseph Smith himself, and his family, which would be utterly nonsensical and useless if written by President Young. The fact is, we have the affidavit of Joseph C. Kingsbury, certifying that he copied the original manuscript of the revelation within three days after the date on which it was written. I knew Joseph C. Kingsbury well. Furthermore, the revelation was read by Hyrum Smith to a majority of the members of the High Council, in Nauvoo, at about the time it was given, to which fact we have the sworn statements of the members of the High Council" (Smith 1919, p. 490).[9]

[edit] Historical RLDS

Many late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century members of the RLDS church were not convinced that Joseph Smith, Jr., engaged in plural marriage. From the 1880s to the 1950s, official RLDS publications maintained Smith's complete innocence in the practice (Howlett 2004, p. 150-151). However, this official position contradicted the testimony of earlier RLDS members who lived in Nauvoo during Joseph Smith's lifetime. It also overlooked disagreement within the ranks of the RLDS hierarchy on this issue.

One of the founders of the Reorganization, Jason W. Briggs, a presiding elder in Wisconsin during the early 1840s, maintained throughout his life that Joseph Smith, Jr. had originated polygamy and that God would punish Joseph Smith, Jr. for his "transgressions." The church needed to simply deal with the issue and move on, stated Briggs (Launius 1988, p. 277). The editor of the earliest official RLDS periodical, Isaac Sheen, similarly affirmed Smith's involvement. He wrote that Joseph Smith, Jr. gave a revelation, committed polygamy, but repented of this "sin" before his death.[10] Sheen's statement was affirmed by William Marks, the stake president of Nauvoo during Joseph Smith, Jr.'s lifetime and a close counselor to Joseph Smith III. Marks claimed to have seen Hyrum Smith read the polygamy revelation to the High Council in 1843 (Launius 1988, p. 201).[11] Marks also affirmed that Joseph Smith, Jr. had repented of the practice two to three weeks before his death in 1844 (Launius 1988, p. 199;Quinn 1994, p. 148). Similarly, James Whitehead, an RLDS member and clerk for Joseph Smith, Jr. affirmed that Emma Smith gave plural wives to Joseph Smith, Jr. on several occasions that he witnessed (Quinn 1994, p. 237,442;Lauinus 1988, p. 207). Early in his life, Joseph Smith III could not affirm Marks and Whitehead despite the eye-witness nature of their statements.

[edit] Modern RLDS Restorationists

Modern RLDS Restorationists (believers who meet in separate organizations from the RLDS/Community of Christ, such as the Restoration Branches movement) contend that polygamy originated with Brigham Young and not Joseph Smith. They believe that the revelation endorsing polygamy and attributed to Joseph Smith, Jr., was first presented by Brigham Young to his followers several years after Joseph Smith, Jr.'s death. Thus, they contend, Smith did not give the polygamy revelation. They do not see early RLDS members who testified to the contrary, like Isaac Sheen, William Marks, or Jason W. Briggs, as credible witnesses [12] and contest the legitimacy/truthfulness of sources that are commonly cited to prove that Joseph Smith Jr. was practicing or promoting plural and celestial marriage.

[edit] Community of Christ

From the 1930s until the present, many RLDS (now Community of Christ) church leaders have affirmed that Joseph Smith, Jr. was involved in polygamy or some type of plural marriage sealings. The topic remains controversial among some Community of Christ members. Many now recognize Smith's involvement; a minority vehemently deny Smith's complicity. Generally, the church no longer sees the issue as important. For people concerned about this topic and related to the RLDS tradition, the issue remains as much about current liberal/conservative church politics as it does an issue of history (Howlett 2004, pp. 149-172)

[edit] Sealing vs Marriage

There is a subtle difference between 'sealing' (which is a LDS priesthood ordinance that binds individuals together in the eternities), and 'marriage' (a social tradition in which the man and woman agree to be husband and wife in this life). In those early days of this religion, common practices and doctrines were not yet well-defined. It is speculated that many, if not all, of the arrangements between Smith and these women were more in alignment with the concept of sealings, not marriages, in the sense that Smith did not join with any of these women, except for Emma, in a family unit.

Even among those who accept the views of conventional historians, there is disagreement as to the precise number of wives Smith had: the LDS Church's genealogical website lists 24 marriages for Smith, four of which are indicated to have taken place after his death.[13] Fawn M. Brodie lists 48 (Brodie 1971, p. 457), D. Michael Quinn 46 (Quinn 1994, p. 587), and George D. Smith 42 (Smith 1994, p. 14). The discrepancy is created by the lack of documents to support the alleged marriages to some of the named wives.

A number of Smith's "marriages" occurred after his death, with the wife being sealed to Joseph via a proxy that stood in for him.[14] One historian, Todd Compton, documented at least thirty-three plural marriages or sealings during Smith's lifetime (Compton Dec. 1996). Many people think it is without question that Joseph had multiple wives; but, as Compton states multiple times in his work, "Absolutely nothing is known of this marriage after the ceremony"&mdash. There are allegations that Smith had at least one child born to a plural wife, but this remains unproven (Compton Summer 1996, p. 17,29).

As of 2007, there are at least twelve early Latter Day Saints who, based on historical documents and circumstantial evidence, have been identified as potential Smith offspring stemming from plural marriages. In 2005 and 2007 studies, a geneticist with the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation showed "with 99.9 percent accuracy" that five of these individuals were in fact not Smith descendants: Mosiah Hancock (son of Clarissa Reed Hancock), Oliver Buell (son of Prescindia Huntington Buell), Moroni Llewellyn Pratt (son of Mary Ann Frost Pratt), Zebulon Jacobs (son of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith), and Orrison Smith (son of Fanny Alger).[15] The remaining seven have yet to be conclusively tested, including Josephine Lyon, for whom current DNA testing cannot provide conclusive evidence either way. Lyon's mother, Sylvia Sessions Lyon, left her daughter a deathbead affidavit telling her she was Smith's daughter.[15]

[edit] List of possible wives

Compton lists the following as possible wives:

Plural wife Marriage Date Recognized by Marital
status[16]		 Notes
CJC[17] GS[18] MQ[19] FB[20]
Emma Hale Jan. 17, 1827 yes yes yes yes Single Later became a member of the RLDS Church[citation needed]
Fanny Alger Early 1833 Single
Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris Est. 1838 Married
Louisa Beaman Apr. 5, 1841 Single (February 7, 1815 - May 16, 1850) After Smith's death, Beaman would go on to become the ninth wife of Brigham Young. They were married in 1844, and she bore him five children. [21]
Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Oct. 27, 1841 Married Sister of Presendia, later married Brigham Young
Presendia Lathrop Huntington Dec. 11, 1841 yes Married (7 September 1810 in Watertown, New York - 1 February 1892 in Salt Lake City, Utah) Sister of Zina.
Agnes Moulton Coolbrith Jan. 6, 1842 Single Widow of Smith's brother Don Carlos. (1808-1876) Prior to her marriage to Joseph Smith, she was married to Don Carlos Smith, Joseph's younger brother. Don Carlos died in 1841, and Coolbrith married Joseph in 1842. Coolbrith was the mother of Ina Coolbrith, who became the first poet laureate of California.
Sylvia Porter Sessions Feb. 8, 1842 Married She was the daughter of David Sessions and Patty Bartlett Sessions, who became Joseph Smith's tenth wife.
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Jan. 17, 1842 (9 April 1818 in Lima, New York–17 December 1913 in Minersville, Utah) After Smith's death, she would go on to become the twenty-fourth plural wife of LDS Prophet Brigham Young. They married in 1845 and she bore him no children. Mary Elizabeth and her sister Caroline were also instrumental in salvaging printed pages of the Book of Commandments when the printing press was destroyed by a mob on 20 July 1833.[22]
Patty Bartlett Sessions Mar. 9, 1842 Married (4 February 1795 in Bethel, Maine - 14 December 1893 in Bountiful, Utah) At the time of her marriage to Smith, she was already married to David Sessions, and their daughter Sylvia Porter Sessions was already the eighth wife of Joseph Smith.
Marinda Nancy Johnson Apr. 1842 Married (28 June 1815 in Pomfret, Vermont - 24 March 1886 in Salt Lake City, Utah)
Elizabeth David Bef. Jun. 1842 Married (11 March 1791 in Riverhead, New York - 16 December 1876 in White Cloud, Kansas)
Sarah Maryetta Kingsley Bef. Jun. 29, 1842 Married (1788 - 20 April 1856 in Plymouth, Illinois)
Delcena Johnson Bef. Jul. 1842 Single (19 November 1806 in Westfield, Vermont - 21 October 1854 in Salt Lake City, Utah; widow of Lyman R. Sherman)
Eliza Roxcy Snow Jun. 29, 1842 Single Sister of Lorenzo Snow
Sarah Ann Whitney Jul. 27, 1842 Single Daughter of Newel and Elizabeth Whitney
Martha McBride Aug. 1842 Single
Ruth Vose Feb. 1843 Married
Flora Ann Woodworth Spring 1843 Single
Emily Dow Partridge Mar. 4, 1843 Single Daughter of Edward Partridge and sister of Eliza. She remarried to Brigham Young after Smith's death.
Eliza Maria Partridge Mar.8, 1843 Single Daughter of Edward Partridge and sister of Emily. Eliza remarried after Smith's death, this time to Amasa M. Lyman, who was already husband to Eliza's older sister, Caroline.
Almera Woodward Johnson Apr. 1843 Single (12 October 1812 in Westfield, Vermont - 4 March 1896 in Parowan, Utah)
Lucy Walker Jan. 5, 1843 Single
Sarah Lawrence May 1843 Single (13 May 1826 in Pickering Township, Ontario, Canada - 1872) Sister of Maria.
Maria Lawrence May 1843 Single (b. December 18, 1823, Pickering Township, Ontario - d.? Nauvoo, Illinois) Sister of Sarah. After Smith's death, Lawrence would go on to become the sixteenth plural wife of LDS Prophet Brigham Young. They divorced in 1845, but remarried the following year. [21]
Helen Mar Kimball May 1843 Single Daughter of Heber C. Kimball
Hannah Ells 1843 Single (4 March 1813 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England - 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois)
Elvira Annie Cowles Jun. 1, 1843 Married (23 November 1813 in Unadilla, New York - 10 March 1871 in Farmington, Utah) She was the daughter of Austin Cowles, a counselor in the Nauvoo stake presidency. Elvira had married Jonathan Holmes on December 1, 1842, and stayed with him until her death, living most of her later life in Farmington, Utah. She bore Holmes five daughters from 1845 to 1856.[23]
Rhoda Richards Jun. 12, 1843 Single (8 August 1784 in Framingham, Massachusetts - 17 January 1879 in Salt Lake City, Utah) 1st cousin of Brigham Young whom she married after Smith's death.
Desdemona Fullmer Jul. 1843 Single (6 October 1809 in Huntington, Pennsylvania - 9 February 1886 in Salt Lake City, Utah)
Olive Grey Frost Summer 1843 Single (24 July 1816 in Bethel, Maine - 6 October 1845 in Nauvoo, Illinois) After Smith's death, Frost would go on to become the eighteenth plural wife of LDS Prophet Brigham Young. They married in 1844, and she bore him no children.
Melissa Lott Sep. 20, 1843 Single She was the daughter of early Mormon leader Cornelius P. Lott.
Nancy Maria Winchester 1842 or 1843 Single Daughter of Stephen Winchester Sr. of Vershire, Vermont, who was a member of the Danite militia and the Quorum of the Seventy, and his wife Nancy Case of Argyle, N.Y.
Fanny Young Nov. 2, 1843 Single (8 November 1787 in Hopkinton, Massachusetts - 11 June 1859) is recognized as the thirty-fourth and final woman to marry LDS church founder Joseph Smith, Jr.[23] She was also the sister of later Mormon church leader Brigham Young.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that marriages or sealings are not valid unless recorded.[24]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Foster 1981; Quinn 1994; Compton 1997; Launius 1988; Van Wagoner 1989.
  2. ^ See previous reference works.
  3. ^ Millennial Star Supplement, Volume 15, page 30
  4. ^ Church History, Volume 3, page 352
  5. ^ Joseph Smith's 12 July 1843 polygamy revelation on plural marriage with the demand that Emma Smith, the first wife, accept all of Joseph Smith's plural wives. See the Doctrine and Covenants, 132:1–4, 19, 20, 24, 34, 35, 38, 39, 52, 60–62.
  6. ^ D&C 132:62-63
  7. ^ Smith, Joseph. "The Contributor". 
  8. ^ Times and Seasons, Volume 5, p. 423, see also Volume 5, page 474; Volume 5, pp 490-491
  9. ^ See also: Improvement Era, Vol. 5, October, 1902, p. 988.”
  10. ^ True Latter Day Saints' Herald 1 (January 1860):24.
  11. ^ See the quote of RLDS church leadership "joint council" minutes from 2 May 1865.
  12. ^ Price,"Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy," p. 207-217.
  13. ^ Joseph Smith: Individual Record. FamilySearch Ancestral File v4.19. Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
  14. ^ Jacobs, Zina Diantha Huntington. "All Things Move in Order in the City: The Nauvoo Diary of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs". BYU Studies. 
  15. ^ a b Moore, Carrie. "DNA tests rule out 2 as Smith descendants", Deseret Morning News, 11/10/2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-12. 
  16. ^ Marital status at time of sealing
  17. ^ Wife recognized by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
  18. ^ Wife recognized by George D. Smith.
  19. ^ Wife recognized by D. Michael Quinn.
  20. ^ Wife recognized by Fawn Brodie.
  21. ^ a b Brigham Young's Wives and his divorce from Eliza Ann Webb
  22. ^ Carter, Kate (1962). Our Pioneer Heritage. Salt Lake City, UT: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 308. 
  23. ^ a b The Wives of Joseph Smith
  24. ^ That in all your recordings it may be recorded in heaven; whatsoever you bind on earth, may be bound in heaven; whatsoever you loose on earth, may be loosed in heaven...And again, let all the records be had in order...saith the Lord of Hosts.D&C 128:6-9
    You may think this order of things to be very particular; but let me tell you that it is only to answer the will of God...the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works; consequently, the books...refer to the records which are kept on the earth...whatsoever you record on earth shall be recorded in heaven, and whatsoever you do not record on earth shall not be recorded in heaven; for out of the books shall your dead be judged, according to their own works, whether they themselves have attended to the ordinances in their own propria persona, or by the means of their own agents, according to the ordinance which God has prepared for their salvation from before the foundation of the world, according to the records which they have kept concerning their dead. It may seem to some to be a very bold doctrine that we talk of—a power which records or binds on earth and binds in heaven. Nevertheless, in all ages of the world, whenever the Lord has given a dispensation of the priesthood to any man by actual revelation, or any set of men, this power has always been given. Hence, whatsoever those men did in authority, in the name of the Lord, and did it truly and faithfully, and kept a proper and faithful record of the same, it became a law on earth and in heaven, and could not be annulled, according to the decrees of the great Jehovah. (D&C 129:1-9)

[edit] References

  1. Brodie, Fawn M (1971), No Man Knows My History, New York: Knopf, ISBN 0679730540 .
  2. Compton, Todd (Summer 1996), “A Trajectory of Plurality: An Overview of Joseph Smith's Thirty-three Plural Wives”, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Dialogue Foundation) 29 (2): 1-38, <http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/dialogue&CISOPTR=11460&REC=12>. Retrieved on 11 May 2007 .
  3. Compton, Todd (December 1997), In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, ISBN 156085085X .
  4. Doctrine & Covenants 132.
  5. Foster, Lawrence (1981), Religion and Sexuality: The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community, New York: Oxford University Press 
  6. Fry, Evan, Joseph Smith, Jr., Did Not Teach nor Practice Polygamy, HopeOfZion.com, <http://www.hopeofzion.com/library/polygam.html>. Retrieved on 13 September 2006 
  7. Howlett, David J. (2004), “Remembering Polygamy: the RLDS Church and the Late Twentieth-Century American Spiritual Transformations”, The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal (John Whitmer Historical Association) 24: 149-172 . Discusses the twentieth-century RLDS struggle to remember polygamy in the context of general American religious controversies in the same era.
  8. Launius, Roger D. (May 1990), Father Figure: Joseph Smith III and the Creation of the Reorganized Church, Herald Pub House, ISBN 0-8309-0576-6 .
  9. Launius, Roger D. (1988), Joseph Smith III: Pragmatic Prophet, University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0252065158 . Provides an excellent discussion of Joseph Smith III's attempts to understand polygamy's origins and his father's role or lack thereof.
  10. Price, Richard & Price, Pamela, Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy, Price Publishing Company, <http://restorationbookstore.org/jsfp-index.htm>. Retrieved on 1 August 2006 .
  11. Price, Richard, Joseph Smith: Innocent of Polygamy, Price Publishing Company, <http://restorationbookstore.org/articles/doctrine/js-notpoligamist.htm>. Retrieved on 1 August 2006 
  12. Quinn, D. Michael (1994), The Mormon Hierarchy:Origins of Power, Salt Lake City: Signature Books .
  13. Smith, Elbert A., Differences That Persist between the RLDS and LDS Churches, Chapter 3, CenterPlace.org, <http://centerplace.org/library/books/DifferencesThatPersist.pdf>. Retrieved on 8 November 2006 
  14. Smith, George D (Spring 1994), “Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841-46: A Preliminary Demographic Report”, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 27 (1), <http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fdialogue&CISOPTR=15882&REC=3&CISOBOX=42>. Retrieved on 12 May 2007 .
  15. Smith, Joseph F (1919 (reprinted 1939)), GOSPEL DOCTRINE: Selections from The Sermons and Writings of Joseph F. Smith, Sixth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Deseret Book Company 
  16. Van Wagoner, Richard (1989), Mormon Polygamy: A History, Salt Lake City: Signature Books .
  17. Whitmer, David (1887), An Address to All Believers in Christ, Richmond, Missouri, <http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/address3.htm>. Retrieved on 30 December 2006 .

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