Category: Polygamy
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The Beehive House, Persecution, and Polygamy
The Beehive House, Persecution, and Polygamy By Bill McKeever The following was originally printed in the September/October 2010 edition of Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription, please visit here.
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Should a Mormon Spouse Be Honest About Being Eternally Sealed to Someone Else?
Should a Mormon spouse be honest about being eternally sealed to someone else? The following was originally printed in the February 2010 edition of MRM’s Update, a special edition mailed to financial supporters who also receive the publication Mormonism Researched. To request a free subscription of Mormonism Researched, please visit here. The letter is printed as it…
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Troubled by Joseph Smith’s Polygamy
In this video, a returned Mormon missionary explains how personal revelation helped him on his mission. It seems an investigator was struggling with accepting the LDS Church due to troubling historical information she had learned about Joseph Smith and polygamy. Watch the video to get the background and the greater context of the story. But…
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Polygamy/Plural Marriage (Defined)
Polygamy/Plural Marriage. A doctrine practiced in the LDS Church from the 1830s until 1890 in which men were encouraged to have multiple wives in order to receive greater blessings in eternity. Polygamy is no longer a practice of Mormonism, but the revelation that teaches it is still found in Doctrine and Covenants, section 132. Joseph…
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Manifesto (Defined)
Manfiesto. A declaration signed by fourth LDS President Wilford Woodruff in 1890, officially promising the abolition of the practice of polygamy. This was in response to allegations that Mormon leaders were still teaching and encouraging the practice of plural marriage even though it was illegal.
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Why Would “Five Wives” Brand Offend Mormons?
Much has been written over last week or so about Idaho’s ban of the sale of a particular brand of vodka because of its label. The spirit, made at Ogden’s Own Distillery in Utah, is called Five Wives Vodka, and the Idaho State Liquor Division doesn’t like it. On May 24 (2012) Howard Wasserstein, deputy…
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Two men for every three women?
In Utah, the issue of polygamy is a very sensitive topic. Should the topic of one man marrying more than one wife somehow come up in a conversation, watch the eyes roll and folks run away from the conversation. So, needless to say, this is not an issue generally dealt with over the picket fence.…
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Nauvoo Women: An Overlooked History of the Mormon Relief Society
This year (2011) Mormon ladies have been learning about the history of the Church’s Relief Society, said to be “the Lord’s organization for woman.” Julie B. Beck, the Relief Society general president wrote that “understanding our history is not only important but essential” (Ensign, January 2011, 7. Emphasis in the original). Ms. Beck gave several…
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The Dysfunctional Doctrine of Mormon Polygamy
Continuing our discussion about Mormon polygamy, on June 29 (2011) Doug Gibson, from Ogden’s Standard-Examiner, recounted the toll the 19th century practice of polygamy took on LDS “marriages and hearts.” He wrote, “Polygamy was a contradictory doctrine, and extremely dysfunctional. Brigham Young once said that he wished it wasn’t a doctrine, but later also raged…
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Where Did the Mormon Doctrine of Polygamy Come From? Emma Knew.
On July 12, 1843 Joseph Smith recorded what Mormons believe was a revelation from God “relating to the new and everlasting covenant, including the eternity of the marriage covenant, as also plurality of wives” (Introduction to D&C 132). In this section of what is now Mormon scripture, Joseph’s wife, Emma, is called out and told…
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Rebecca Swain Williams: More To Her Story
The April 2011 edition of Ensign magazine includes an article about early Latter-day Saint Rebecca Swain Williams. As the article notes, Rebecca and her husband, Fredrick G. Williams, converted to the LDS Church in late 1830 while living in Kirtland, Ohio. Back in New York, Rebecca’s father opposed her conversion to Mormonism. This caused a…
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Persecution and Polygamy: How Many Mormons Actually Died as a Result of 19th Century Persecution?
By Bill McKeever Listen It is rare to hear a Mormon tell of his church’s history without a reference being made to the persecution the Mormons faced in Missouri and Illinois during the 1830s and 1840s. That Mormons were mistreated is a matter of actual history, and I certainly have no intention to downplay any…
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Plural Marriage Index
Better to have never known (D&C 137:7)?The Book of Abraham
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The Stories of the Wives of Joseph Smith
Consider the fact that Mormons told the women in the visual illustration that they were lying, since “Joseph Smith only had one wife.” The LDS Church lies by 1) not educating the common Mormon people about the nature of Joseph Smith’s polygyny and polyandry, and 2) allowing gigantic “faith-promoting rumors” concerning polygamy to perpetuate, all…
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If Polygamy Becomes Legal…
It’s the talk of the town, but it’s nothing new. Ever since the idea of legalizing same-gender marriage gained enough momentum to capture headlines people have been warning that such a move could open the door to legalized polygamy. Several years ago San Francisco Chronicle reporter Ron Lutz wrote, “Legalizing gay marriages today means legalizing…
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What is "Celestial Polygamy"?
By Bill McKeever The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seems to be engaged in an uphill battle in its effort to convince the public that they no longer practice polygamy. An LDS Newsroom release posted on September 7, 2007, stated:
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A Look at Fundamentalism Mormonism
By Bill McKeever The practice of plural marriage had been the center of controversy for Joseph Smith and his fledgling church ever since rumors began circulating about an extra marital affair he had while living in Kirtland, Ohio. According to George D. Smith:
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Testimony of a Former Polygamist: Out of Polygamy, Into Christ
I was born and raised in one of many groups of people who practice polygamy as their way to heaven and to eternal exaltation. All my life I was taught that the "god with whom we have to do" was a tyrant, with a celestial whip, ready and anxious to punish, hurt and humiliate those…
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Did Joseph Smith Have Sex With His Wives? (And Other Questions Answered)
Joseph Smith’s first wife was Emma Hale (1804-79) the daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Lewis) Hale. They were married on January 18, 1827 in South Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York. Smith’s marriage to Louis Beaman is considered by some to be his first official plural marriage since it is the first for which there is…
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Amorous Advances by the Mormon Prophet
By Bill McKeever Mormon historian Richard Van Wagoner paints anything but a flattering picture of Joseph Smith in his book Sidney Rigdon, Portrait of Religious Excess. In his chapter titled “Between Friends and Family,” he notes that “perhaps the most scandalous manifestation of Smith’s lust for manly achievement was his inclination toward extra-martial romantic liaisons,…
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