Polygamy and Mormon Church Leaders Dominicus Carter

27 February

early mormon polygamistsIn this installment of Polygamy and Mormon Church Leaders, we’re looking at the life of Dominicus Carter (1806-1884).

The most notable event of Carter’s life is found in the annals of his posterity, and not in any noteworthy, or successful incident commonly seen in Mormon folklore. We found that comments made by descendants reveal the true story of Carter’s life, giving us an inside look at the mindset Mormons still carry with them today.

By and large, Mormons tend to grasp onto the perils of what it was like to live in polygamy, and wear them like a badge of honor instead of denouncing the highly unbiblical way of life. The following comment from one of his descendants sounds like they’re making excuses for Carter’s sinful lifestyle –

‘…while much has been said about his nine wives, he had already lost two of those wives, and three others chose to leave. During most of the Provo years he lived with four wives: Mary Durfee, Polly Miner, Elizabeth Brown and Fannie Nash. At his death all four of those women were at his bedside.’

The martyr syndrome is still ‘alive and kicking’, as they say…

One of two notable items of interest was the birth of his youngest son in 1875.Dominicus Carter 1806-1884Dominicus would’ve been 69 years old at the time, and the date of death for another child was in 1953; that’s 147 years after Carter’s birth. Keep in mind, the average length of one generation is 40 years.

Make no mistake, Carter’s bad habits didn’t exclude him from being classed with other Mormon polygamists. Evidence of this is seen in his wives. Two were sisters, all but two of his nine wives were teenagers, with one who was but a child of 14 years.

You can read more info on Dominicus’ life and that of his wives here.

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One Response to “Polygamy and Mormon Church Leaders Dominicus Carter”

  1. Tonya Milito May 23, 2017 at 1:39 am #

    He was my 5th great grandfather!

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