Joseph Smith’s Wives
Joseph Smith and Polygamy
In the 13 years I was a Mormon there was little talk about Joseph Smith and polygamy. Whenever polygamy was brought up the discussion was usually centered on Brigham Young as the one who set the example and paved the way for polygamy in the early Mormon Church.
Little did I know that Smith had a least 34 wives before his death in 1844. Many were teenagers (2 of them were 14) when he married them and some of his wives were married to other men. In fact Smith was going full steam ahead in the practice of plural marriage many years before he introduced it to the whole body of the Mormon Church. In the Journal of Discourses vol 20 page 29, Joseph F. Smith said;
“To put this matter more correctly before you, I here declare that the principle of plural marriage was not first revealed on the 12th day of July, 1843. It was written for the first time on that date, but it had been revealed to the Prophet many years before that, perhaps as early as 1832.”
Doctrine and Covenants 132
At the beginning of section 132 in the Doctrine and Covenants we learn Joseph Smith was asking God why he allowed men like Jacob, David, and Abraham to have multiple wives. From this inquiry, Smith said he learned that the practice of plural marriage was to be a part of the Mormon Church. In this text Smith, goes on to say that God told him anyone who does not abide by this covenant would be damned. I’ve had LDS members argue with me and tell me that this section of D&C isn’t about polygamy but about the “new and everlasting covenant” of marriage, otherwise known as celestial marriage.
When we read Doctrine and Covenants 132 in context, the message of polygamy is very clear. I don’t know why the LDS miss it.
LDS members will say that Smith never had any other wives other than Emma before he wrote D&C 132. In verses 52 Smith says Emma must “receive all those that have been given” to Joseph Smith. In verse 54 Smith says that if Emma will not abide by this commandment she would be destroyed. At this time, the LDS will usually retaliate and say that Smith never had marital relations with these women.
In reference to Smith, they may say he only married them because they needed protection and he wanted to fulfill their physical needs. This argument is dispelled in verses 61-63 where Smith talks about men who have more than one wife are to “multiply and replenish the earth.” If he wasn’t involved sexually with his wives then he was disobeying a commandment from his god.
Women clearly had no value in Smith’s eyes. At the bottom of this article I have a link to page where you can read stories of the women he tried to manipulate into marrying him. It’s recorded that he married any many as ten women who were married to other men.
If he wanted another man’s wife to add to his harem, she had no recourse. If her husband agreed to Smith’s proposal, she could only comply with the wishes of the priesthood holders above her. Journal of Discourses, Vol: 02 pg: 14 reads:
“What would a man of God say, who felt alright, when Joseph asked him for his money? He would say, “Yes, and I wish I had more to help to build the kingdom of God.” Or if he came and said, “I want you wife?” “Oh yes,” he would say, “here she is, there are plenty more.”
Smith claimed to have “restored” the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. Part of this restoration included polygamy as we learned in D&C 132. One would think that if he were restoring something that had been done away with it would be the same as it was before the restoration.
I also found it very interesting to learn that Smith married a mother and a daughter Patty Bartlett and Sylvia Sessions, and three sets of sisters: Delcena and Almera Johnson; Sarah and Maria Lawrence; and Emily and Eliza Partridge. What was so interesting about these marriages is that they go against what God said in the Old Testament found in Lev. 18:17-18. These verses read:
“Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness. Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.”
Smith denied practicing polygamy up until his death in June of 1844. In History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (vol: 6 page 411) He is quoted as saying;
“What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives,when I can only find one.”
Smith’s aversion to telling the truth about his polygamous escapades was just one of the ways he deceived the early Mormons. His lies and deceit have led countless souls into a religion which leads people away from true happiness. Smith used manipulative tactics to explain things in a way that makes God not the unchangeable being we know him to be from his word. I hope modern day Mormons will see Smith for what he truly was; anything but a prophet of God.
LIST of SMITH’S WIVES
Name | Date of Marriage | Age | Living Husband |
1.Emma Hale | January 1827 | 22 | |
2.Fanny Alger | 1833 | 16 | |
3.Lucinda Morgan Harris | 1836 | 37 | George Harris |
4.Louisa Beaman | April 1841 | 26 | |
5.Zina Huntington Jacobs | October 1841 | 20 | Henry Jacobs |
6.Presendia Huntington Buell | December 1841 | 31 | Normal Buell |
7.Agnes Coolbirth | January 1842 | 33 | |
8.Sylvia Sessions Lyon | February 1842 | 23 | Windsor Lyon |
9. Mary Rolling Lightner | February 1842 | 23 | Adam Lightner |
10.Patty Bartlett Sessions | March 1842 | 47 | David Sessions |
11.Marinda Johnson Hyde | April 1842 | 27 | Orson Hyde |
12.Elizabeth Davis Durfee | June 1842 | 50 | Jabez Durfee |
13.Sarah Kingsley Cleveland | June 1842 | 53 | John Cleveland |
14.Delcena Johnson | July 1842 | 37 | |
15.Eliza R. Snow | June 1842 | 38 | |
16.Sarah Ann Whitney | July 1842 | 17 | |
17.Martha McBride Knight | August 1842 | 37 | |
18.Ruth Vose Sayers | February 1843 | 33 | Edward Sayers |
19.Flora Ann Woodworth | Spring 1843 | 16 | |
20.Emily Dow Partridge | March 1843 | 19 | |
21.Eliza Maria Partridge | March1843 | 22 | |
22. Almera Johnson | April 1843 | 30 | |
23.Lucy Walker | May 1843 | 17 | |
24.Sarah Lawrence | May 1843 | 17 | |
25.Maria Lawrence | May 1843 | 19 | |
26.Helen Mar Kimball | May 1843 | 14 | |
27.Hanna Ellis | Mid 1843 | 29 | |
28.Elvira Cowles Holmes | June 1843 | 29 | Jonathan Holmes |
29.Rhoda Richards | June 1843 | 58 | |
30.Desdemona Fullmer | July 1843 | 32 | |
31.Olive Frost | Mid 1843 | 27 | |
32.Melissa Lott | September 1843 | 19 | |
33.Nancy Winchester | 1843 | 14 | |
34.Fanny Young | November 1843 | 56 |
References
Doctrine and Covenants 132
I wonder why people call it polygamy when it’s really just plain old adultery. In marriage, or even polygamy the ceremony is done publically, not behind closed doors in secret. If your sex partners dont know about each other sorry but thats not marriage. In marriage the husband supports his wife and their children. Not only did Smith not support these women, he even denied involvement with them! If your “wives” had to be coerced or threatened into “marriage” (aka sleeping with you), or betraying their legal husbands to “marry” you, let’s be honest – that’s not marriage.
AMEN, AMEN, AMEN to that Miss Julie!
The good Lord would never ordain such activity, nor would He condone lying about it!
Thanks for your input and God bless!
Michelle
Is it because people are trying not to offend mormons, that’s why they don’t say what it really is- Adultery?
My opinion? The mormons and others in false religiions could do with being offended, or convicted, that’s the biblical term for what we often call offense today. Otherwise they are complacent and comfortable, carrying on in their false religion, all the while their eternal souls are destined for hell unless they repent. The Lord Jesus Christ said that the Holy Spirit when He comes will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. See John 16:8