http://www.mormoncurtain.com/topic_josephsmithpolyandrypolyga
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Accessed 3-29-08
No Surplus of Women in Early Utah
Official census records and LDS Church authorities dispell popular
excuse for polygamy
JOSEPH SMITH - POLYGAMY, POLYANDRY
Total Articles: 27
The first Prophet of the LDS Church.
Joseph Smith Marrying Teen Girls
Records show it was not normal to marry 14 year-old girls in Joseph
Smith's time
This Topic surrounds Joseph Smith and his belief of Polygamy and
Polyandry.
Mormon Polygamy not about Widows or Orphans
Historian Randy Jordan debunks myth that Mormon polygamy was
about helping widows
Joseph Smith Polygamy
Article Archived: Jun 29, 2005, at 10:00 AM
Stored Under Topic: JOSEPH SMITH - POLYGAMY,
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Original Author Of Article: Deconstructor
18 Wives Of Joseph Smith Not Listed On The Church's Online
Family History Record. Why Not?
Article Archived: Aug 6, 2005, at 08:24 AM
Stored Under Topic: JOSEPH SMITH - POLYGAMY,
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous
Deconstructor's Site http://www.i4m.com/think/intro/ has a great
section on Joseph Smith and his polygamous and polyandrous affairs.
Today, the LDS Church continues to supress the fact that Joseph
Smith had anything to do with Polygamy. In fact, the LDS Church's
new site Joseph Smith The Prophet does not contain even one piece
pointing at polygamy or polyandry.
I reviewed the church’s online genealogy record for Joseph Smith
(ref. http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Searc...) and the list of Smith's
wives on http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/hom... (which includes
marriage dates and references).
This selection is from Deconstructor's site and all links herein go to
his site.
The following 18 women are not listed in the church’s record as
Smith’s wives:
"And if Joseph Smith have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he
cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given
unto him; therefore he is justified for they are given unto him to
multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and
to fulfil 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; for herein is the work of my
Father continued, that he may be glorified." - Doctrine and Covenants
132:62-63
Agnes Coolbrith
Almera Johnson
Delcena Johnson
Eliza Maria Partridge
Elizabeth Davis Durfee
Elvira Cowles Holmes
Emily Dow Partridge
Fanny Alger
Flora Ann Woodworth
Hanna Ells
Louisa Beaman
Lucinda Morgan Harris
Maria Lawrence
Marinda Johnson Hyde
Olive Frost
Patty Bartlett Sessions
Ruth Vose Sayers
Sarah Kingsley Cleveland
Did Joseph Smith Have Sex With His Wives?
Official church records show Smith had dozens of wives, but did he
have sex with them?
Sharing Your Spouse with the Prophet
Church leaders and historians explain why Joseph Smith married
other men's wives
Joseph Smith Letter Justifies Polygamy
Official Joseph Smith letter to a nineteen year-old girl provides his
justification for polygamy
I'm wondering why not.
A Heavenly Messenger Answers Joseph Smith's Prayers
Why did an angel with a sword repeatedly threaten Joseph Smith's
life?
Why I Think Joseph Smith Had Sex With His Wives
Article Archived: Aug 26, 2005, at 11:31 AM
Stored Under Topic: JOSEPH SMITH - POLYGAMY,
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Original Author Of Article: Deconstructor
William Clayton Diary and Joseph Smith Polygamy
A revealing insiders experience with Joseph Smith's secret polygamy
LDS Church Polygamy and the Law
Why Joseph Smith and others lied about their plural mariages
What Mormon Women Really Felt About Polygamy
Faithful LDS member and historian documents the female
perspective on polygamy
There is more evidence Joseph Smith had sex with his wives than
exists he saw God and Jesus.
1
Here's why I think Joseph Smith had sex with his wives:
22 Mar 1842, two months after Mary married Joseph Smith (17 Jan
1842). She also went on to have seven more children with Adam
Lightner after marrying Joseph Smith.
1. The only two recorded Joseph Smith revelations on polygamy are
commandments to have children.
Florentine Mattheas Lightner 23 Mar 1844
John Horace Gilbert Lightner 9 Feb 1847
Elizabeth Lightner 3 Apr 1849
Mary Rollins Lightner 9 Apr 1850
Algernon Sidney Lightner 25 Mar 1853
Charles Washington Lightner 17 Mar 1857
Adam Lightner 28 Oct 1861
2. Making babies with polygamous wives is the only reason "The
Lord" gives for polygamy.
3. The Book of Mormon says the only reason the Lord would permit
polygamy would be to have children.
4. Joseph Smith's own son tried to exonerate his father from the
charge of having sex with his plural wives. After speaking to many of
them personally, he accepted that most of the relationships were
sexual.
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Searc...
Zina Huntington was also pregnant:
5. Over a dozen faithful LDS women testified that their marriages to
Joseph Smith included sex.
She would have been about 6-months pregnant with Henry Bailey
Jacobs son.
6. Close relatives of Smith's wives testified that he spent the night in
the same bed with them.
Marriage(s):
Spouse: Joseph SMITH (AFN: 9KGL-W2) Family
Marriage: 27 Oct 1841
Nauvoo, Hancock, Il
7. Everyone Joseph Smith taught his law of Celestial Marriage to
understood it meant having sex, and did so.
1.Sex Name
M Zebulon William JACOBS (AFN:234B-S6) Pedigree
8. Other cult leaders (Jim Jones, David Koresh, etc..) claim to receive
similar "revelations" to D&C 132 that justify them having sex with
multiple women (and eventually teen girls).
Born: 2 Jan 1842 Place: Nauvoo, Hancok, Il
Died: 22 Sep 1914 Place: Salt Lake City, S-Lk, Ut
Buried: Place: Salt Lake City, Cem. S-Lk City, Ut
In comparison, the First Vision story has little of the above evidence
to support it. So why do Mormons believe the First Vision but refuse
to accept the fact that Joseph Smith obeyed The Lord's
"commandment" in D&C 132 and had sex with his wives?
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Searc...
She also married Brigham Young while still married to Jacobs and
eight months pregnant with Henry Chariton Jacobs.
Get the facts here: http://www.i4m.com/think/polygamy/
Listen to an ardent Mormon insist publicly that Joseph Smith's
polygamy had nothing to do with sexual access to women:
Spouse: Brigham YOUNG (AFN: 3ZD8-KC) Family
Marriage: 2 Feb 1846
Nauvoo, Hancock, Il
http://www.i4m.com/think/van_hale2.ht...
2. Sex Name
M Henry Chariton JACOBS (AFN:1875-4N) Pedigree
Is his argument credible?
Born: 22 Mar 1846 Place: Chariton, Lucas, Iowa, Iowa
Died: 14 Oct 1915 Place: Ogden, Weber, Ut
Information On Joseph Smith Marrying Pregnant Wive's Of Other
Men
Article Archived: Oct 19, 2005, at 08:09 AM
Stored Under Topic: JOSEPH SMITH - POLYGAMY,
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous
If you look up Brigham Young you will find the following.
-Morris Whitesides dies one month after Brigham Young marries his
wife Margaret Pierce.
-Diana Severance Chase marries William Montgomery Shaw while
still married to Brigham Young.
-Brigham Young marries Harriet Emeline Barney while she is still
married to William Henry Harrison Sagers.
I post this for any that may be visiting because of reading about
Joseph Smith's plural marriages in Newsweek.
-Mary Jane Bigelow is married to four other men while still married
to Brigham Young.
You will notice that Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner was still
married to Adam Lightner (married 11 Aug 1835) when she married
Joseph Smith (17 Jan 1842).
-Brigham Young marries Ann Eliza Webb while she is still married
to James Leech Dee.
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Searc...
-Brigham Young marries Lydia Farnsworth while she is still married
to Elijah Mayhew.
Mary Lightner was also seven months pregnant with Adam’s child
when she married Joseph Smith. George Algernon Lightner was born
2
-Mary Ann Turley marries John James Cook while still married to
Brigham Young.
husband and [participated in] a pretended marriage for the purpose of
. . . Bringing about the purposes of God in these last days . . ."
- Elder Joseph Kingsbury, "History of Joseph Kingsbury Written by
His Own Hand," page 5, Utah State Historical Society
-Elizabeth Fairchild marries at least two other men while married to
Brigham Young.
If Not Sex, What Was Joseph Smith Doing?
-Eliza Babcock marries Brigham Young while still married to
Dominicus Carter.
Most of Smith's plural wives boarded with other families, whom he
visited periodically. His secretary, William Clayton, recorded one
such visit to young Almera Johnson on May 16, 1843: "Prest. Joseph
and I went to B[enjamin] F. Johnsons to sleep." Johnson himself later
noted that on this visit Smith stayed with Almera "as man and wife"
and "occupied the same room and bed with my sister, that the
previous month he had occupied with the daughter of the late Bishop
Partridge as his wife." Almera Johnson also confirmed her secret
marriage to Joseph Smith: "I lived with the prophet Joseph as his
wife and he visited me at the home of my brother Benjamin F."
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Searc...
Joseph Smith Also Used Other Methods To Cover Polygamy
Pregnancies
Article Archived: Dec 12, 2005, at 07:52 AM
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Original Author Of Article: Deconstructor
While in hiding, Joseph Smith wrote a revealing letter which he
addressed to her parents, Newel and Elizabeth Whitney, inviting
them to bring their daughter to visit him "just back of Brother
Hyrums farm." He advised Brother Whitney to "come a little a head
and knock at the south East corner of the house at the window." He
assured them, especially Sarah Ann, that "it is the will of God that
you should comfort me now." He stressed the need for care "to find
out when Emma comes," but "when she is not here, there is the most
perfect saftey." The prophet warned them to "burn this letter as soon
as you read it" and "keep all locked up in your breasts." In closing he
admonished, "I think Emma won't come to night if she dont, dont fail
to come tonight."
- http://www.xmission.com/%7Eresearch/family/strange.htm
In addition to marrying already-pregnant women, there is some
evidence that abortion was practiced in Nauvoo...
LDS Elder Ebenezer Robinson testified that Hyrum Smith "instructed
me in Nov or Dec 1843 to make a selection of some young woman
and he would seal her to me, and I should take her home," he
recalled, "and if she should have an offspring give out word that she
had a husband, an Elder, who had gone on a foreign mission."
Possibly referring to a secluded birthplace, or conceivably to
abortion, Robinson spoke of "a place appointed in Iowa, 12 or 18
miles from Nauvoo to send female victims to his polygamous births."
- Ebenezer Robinson to Jason W. Briggs, Jan. 28, 1880, LDS
archives. On December 29, 1873, Ebenezer and Angeline Robinson
signed an affidavit saying that Hyrum Smith had come to their house
in the fall of 1843 to teach them the doctrine of polygamy.
Joseph Smith Promised to Cover for Polgamy Pregnancies
Joseph Smith taught the "Law of Celestial Marriage" to his close
friend and secretary, William Clayton. When the pregnancy of
William Clayton's first plural wife threatened to expose them, the
prophet Joseph Smith advised Clayton to "just keep her at home and
brook it and if they raise trouble about it and bring you before me I
will give you an awful scourging and probably cut you off from the
church and then I will baptize you and set you ahead as good as
ever."
- William Clayton journal, Oct. 19, 1843.
Hyrum Smith also documented Nauvoo abortions, and interestingly
enough, blamed it on a doctor and close associate of Joseph Smith.
Hyrum testified that Dr. Bennett was propositioning women in a
similar fashion to Joseph Smith. "[Dr. Bennett] endeavored to seduce
them, and accomplished his designs by saying it was right; that it was
one of the mysteries of God, which was to be revealed when the
people was strong enough in faith to bear such mysteries—that it was
perfectly right to have illicit intercourse with females, providing no
one knew it but themselves, vehemently trying them from day to day,
to yield to his passions, bringing witnesses of his own clan to testify
that there were such revelations and such commandments, and that
they were of God; also stating that he would be responsible for their
sins, if there were any, and that he would give them medicine to
produce abortions, provided they should become pregnant."
- Affidavit of Hyrum Smith. Official History of the Church, Vol. 5,
p.71
Read more here:
http://www.i4m.com/think/joseph-smith-polygamy.htm
Links To The Church's Online Geneaology Records For Joseph
Smith Showing His Plural Wives, Including 14-Year Old Helen Mar
Kimball. Why Is Fannie Alger Listed In The 2nd Record, But Not
The 1st?
Article Archived: Dec 14, 2005, at 11:05 AM
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Original Author Of Article: FreeAtLast
Pretend Marriages in Case of Pregnancy
According to church historian Andrew Jenson, Sarah Ann Whitney
became the seventh plural wife of Joseph Smith, and the story of his
marriage to her illustrates another strategy. She disguised her
relationship to the prophet by pretending to marry Joseph Corodon
Kingsbury on April 29, 1843. In his autobiography Kingsbury wrote:
"I according to Pres. Joseph Smith & Council & others agreed to
stand by Sarah Ann Whitney as though I was supposed to be her
I confronted my TBM mother in October with the fact that JS married
a 14-year old when he was 37 (as the record via the first link shows).
She responded by saying that I should not limit myself to only "antiMormon" sources of info. I replied that I didn't think that the church's
3
online family history record for Smith was "anti-Mormon". Not
surprisingly, she did not ask me to send her the link.
That's exactly the offer the Prophet Joseph Smith gave to fourteen
year-old Helen Mar Kimball.
The second link is interesting because it shows Fannie Alger as
Smith's first plural wife (you have to scroll down the record to find
the data about his marriage to Emma), but the first record doesn't.
Most Mormons are clueless about who Fannie was or how Smith
came to know her ("know" in the Biblical sense - nudge, nudge,
wink, wink, ya know, ya know).
Helen wrote:
"Having a great desire to be connected with the Prophet, Joseph, he
(my father) offered me to him; this I afterwards learned from the
Prophet's own mouth."
"My father had but one Ewe Lamb, but willingly laid her upon the
altar: how cruel this seemed to my mother whose heartstrings were
already stretched unil they were ready to snap asunder, for she had
already taken Sarah Noon to wife and she thought she had made
sufficient sacrifice but the Lord required more."
- Helen Mar Whitney Journal, Helen Mar Autobiography, Womans
Exponent, 1880 and recently reprinted in A Woman's view
.
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Searc...
Note the following:
Mary Elizabeth Rollins married Adam Lightner on 11 Aug 1835.
Their son, George Algernon Lightner was born on 22 Mar 1842.
Adam Lightner died on 30 Aug 1885.
Joseph Smith married Mary Elizabeth Rollins on 17 Jan 1842, when
she was about seven months pregnant (was Adam Lightner the father,
or Joseph Smith?).
In fact, Joseph Smith gave Helen only 24 hours to decide on whether
or not to marry him. Of this, Helen wrote:
"[my father] left me to reflect upon it for the next twenty four hours.
... I was sceptical - one minute believed, then doubted. I thought of
the love and tenderness that he felt for his only daughter, and I knew
that he would not cast me off, and this was the only convincing proof
That I had of its being right."
The next morning, Joseph Smith finally appeared himself to explain
the "law of Celestial Marriage" and claim his teen bride. In her
memoir, Helen wrote, "After which he said to me, 'if you take this
step, it will ensure your eternal salvation and exaltation and that of
your father's household and all of your kindred.' This promise was so
great that I willingly gave myself to purchase so glorious a reward."
Zina Diantha Huntington married Henry Bailey Jacobs on 7 Mar
1841.
Henry Bailey Jacobs died on 1 Aug 1886.
Joseph Smith married Zina Diantha Huntington on 27 Oct 1841,
about seven and a half months after she married Henry.
Prescendia Lathrop Huntington married Norman Buell on 6 Jan 1828.
There is no online record of Norman Buell’s death.
Joseph Smith married Prescendia Lathrop Huntington on 11 Dec
1841.
Joseph Smith married Helen Mar Kimball in May 1843. He was 37
and she was 14.
Helen also writes about her mother's reaction to all of this:
"None but God and his angels could see my mother's bleeding heart when Joseph asked her if she was willing, she replied 'If Helen is
willing I have nothing more to say."
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Searc...
BTW, I've taken and saved digital screenshots of these records, so
even if the church decides to get rid of them because they rock the
faith of too many members (particularly LDS women), it won't much
difference. You might want to do the same for your records.
"She had witnessed the sufferings of others, who were older and who
better understood the step they were taking, and to see her child, who
had yet seen her fifteenth summer, following the same thorny path, in
her mind she saw the misery which was as sure to come as the sun
was to rise and set; but it was hidden from me."
Helen thought her marriage to Joseph Smith was only dynastic. But
to her surprise, it was more. Helen confided to a close friend in
Nauvoo: "I would never have been sealed to Joseph had I known it
was anything more than ceremony. I was young, and they deceived
me, by saying the salvation of our whole family depended on it."
("Mormon Polygamy: A History by LDS member Richard S. Van
Wagoner, p. 53.)
Sex For Salvation - One Of Joseph Smith's Greatest Gospel
Doctrines
Article Archived: Dec 23, 2005, at 11:48 AM
Stored Under Topic: JOSEPH SMITH - POLYGAMY,
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Original Author Of Article: Deconstructor
What would Mormons do today if the Church still practiced this
doctrine? What if a Bishop or Stake President could extend salvation
to an entire family by taking one of their teen daughters?
Of all the gospel doctines Joseph Smith established, none received
this much attention from God. For God sent an angel to Joseph Smith
over a dozen times to make sure he taught and practiced it.
Why can't Mormons today recognize the moral depravity in Joseph
Smith's actions towards his followers?
This doctrine had the most saving power over any ordinance, because
it guaranteed the salvation of an entire family for only one person's
obedience to it.
Did angels really force Joseph Smith into behaving like this?
See:
http://www.i4m.com/think/history/angel_sword.htm
That's right - Joseph Smith taught that only one person in a family
needed to obey this doctrine in order to save their entire family. But if
they rejected the doctrine, then their whole family would be damned.
4
Would You Give Your Sister To The Prophet? This Man Gave Two
Sisters To Joseph Smith!
Article Archived: Dec 27, 2005, at 07:53 AM
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Original Author Of Article: Deconstructor
Both of these promises were more than fulfilled. The text of his
sermon was our use of the "one, five and ten talents," and as God had
now commanded plural marriage, and was exaltation and dominion
of the saints depended upon the number of their righteous posterity,
from him who was then but with one talent, it would be taken and
given him that had ten, which item of doctrine seems now to be
somewhat differently constructed.
But my thought and wish is to write of things just as they occurred,
and I now bear an earnest testimony that his other prediction was
more than fulfilled, for when with great hesitation and stammering I
called my sister to a private audience, and stood before her shaking
with fear, just so soon as I found power to open my mouth, it was
filled, for the light of the Lord shone upon my understanding, and the
subject that had seemed so dark now appeared of all subjects
pertaining to our gospel the most lucid and plain; and so both my
sister and myself were converted together, and never again did I need
evidence or argument to sustain that high and holy principle.
TBM's shouldn't shy away from a bona-fide testimony of Joseph
Smith as a Prophet of God.
Here's a faithful testimony of a man who was so convinced Joseph
Smith was a prophet, that he helped Joseph Smith take two of his
sisters as secret brides.
BENJAMIN F. JOHNSON was a faithful Latter-Day Saint until the
day he died. He had been a close friend and private secretary and
body guard to Joseph Smith. He was also one of the original pioneers
who entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847 with Brigham
Young. He later served as a church patriarch.
And within a few days of this period my sister [Almera] accompanied
me to Nauvoo, where at our sister Delcena's, we soon met the
Prophet with his brother Hyrum and Wm. Clayton, as his private
secretary, who always accompanied him.
In a testimony, he wrote:
Brother Hyrum at once took me in hand, apparently in fear I was not
fully converted, and this was the manner of his talk to me: "Now
Benjamin, you must not be afraid of this new doctrine, for it is all
right. You know Brother Hyrum don't get carried away by worldly
things, and he fought this principle until the Lord showed him it was
true. I know that Joseph was commanded to take more wives, and he
waited until an angel with a drawn sword stood before him and
declared that if he longer delayed fulfilling that command he would
slay him." This was the manner of Brother Hyrum's teaching to me,
which I then did not need, as I was fully converted.
The Prophet, in early spring of 1843, had come to Ramus to teach me
plural marriage, and to ask my other sisters to be his wives, an
account of which I have heretofore given by sworn statement but will
here repeat as it occurred.
It was Sunday morning, April 3rd or 4th, 1843, that the Prophet was
at my home in Ramus, and after breakfast he proposed a stroll
together, and taking his arm, our walk led toward a swail, surrounded
by trees and tall brush and near the forest line not far from my house.
Through the swail ran a small spring brook, across which a tree was
fallen and was clean of its bark. On this we sat down and the Prophet
proceeded at once to open to me the subject of plural and eternal
marriage and he said that years ago in Kirtland the Lord had revealed
to him the ancient order of plural marriage, and the necessity for its
practice, and did command him then to take another wife, and that
among his first thoughts was to come to my mother for some of her
daughters. And as he was again required of the Lord to take more
wives, he had come now to ask me for my sister Almera.
Meanwhile, the Prophet, with Louisa Beeman and my sister Delcena,
had it agreeable arranged with Sister Almera, and after a little
instruction she stood by the Prophet's side and was sealed to him as a
wife, by Brother Clayton; after which the Prophet asked me to take
my sister to occupy number "10" in his Mansion home during her
stay in the city.
But as I could not long be absent from my home and business, we
soon returned to Ramus, where on the 15th of May, some three weeks
later, the Prophet again came and at my house occupied the same
room and bed with my sister, that the month previous he had
occupied with the daughter of the late Bishop Partridge, as his wife.
His words astonished me and almost took my breath. I sat for a time
amazed and finally, almost ready to burst with emotion, I looked him
straight in the face and said: "Brother Joseph, this is something I did
not expect, and I do not understand it. You know whether it is right, I
do not. I want to do just as you tell me, and I will try, but if I ever
should know that you do this to dishonor and debauch my sister, I
will kill you as sure as the Lord lives."
And at this time [when I was 26 years-old] Joseph Smith sealed to me
my first wife for eternity, and gave to me my first plural wife, [17
year-old] Mary Ann Hale, an orphan girl raised by my mother then
living with us, who is still with me, and is probably the only wife still
living with the man to whom she was given by the Prophet.
And while his eyes did not move from mine, he said with a smile, in
a soft tone: "But Benjamin you will never know that, but you will
know the principle in time, and will greatly rejoice in what it will
bring to you."
At the marriage of Sister Almera to the Prophet, there was still our
youngest sister, for whom he manifest partiality, and would gladly
have married, also, but she being young and partially promised to my
first wife's brother, although reluctantly, the matter by him was
dropped.
"But how," I asked, "Can I teach my sister what I myself do not
understand, or show her what I do not myself see?" "But you will see
and understand it," he said, "And when you open your mouth to talk
to your sister, light will come to you and your mouth will be full and
your tongue loose, and I will today preach a sermon to you that none
but you will understand."
On learning from the Prophet that even in Kirtland "the Lord had
required him to take plural wives, and that he had then thought to ask
for some of my sisters" the past with its conditions and influences
began more fully to unfold to my mind, the causes that must, at least
in part, have led to the great apostasy and disruption in Kirtland.
5
Without a doubt in my mind, [16 year-old] Fanny Alger was, at
Kirtland, the Prophet's first plural wife, in which, by right of his
calling, he was justified of the Lord (see D&C 132:59-60); while
Oliver Cowdery, J. Carter, W. Parish, or others were not justified of
the Lord either in their criticisms upon the doings of the Prophet, or
in their becoming a "law unto themselves," through which they lost
the light of their calling and were left in darkness.
". . . [S]yphilis . . . [is] on the increase . . . [where] . . . environmental
factors contribut[ing] to [its] . . . . transmission . . . includ[e]
polygamy . . ."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/qu...
_____
Fanny A., when asked by her brother and others, even after the
Prophet's death, regarding her relations to him, replied: "That is all a
matter of our own, and I have nothing to communicate." Her parents
died in Utah, true to the church. And to my knowledge, was by
President Kimball in the temple at St. George introduced as "Brother
of the Prophet Joseph's first plural wife."
Joseph Smith: A Deadly Disease Waiting to Happen?
As a matter of record, Mormonism's out-of-control
"prophet"/polygamist Joseph Smith had at least 33 wives (in the
flesh, so to speak) and engaged in sex with many of them:
The marriage of my eldest sister [Delcena] to the Prophet was before
my return to Nauvoo, and it being tacitly admitted, I asked no
questions.
- Elder Benjamin F. Johnson Letter to George S. Gibbs, 1903
"Faithful LDS member and historian Todd Compton has found solid
documentation for Smith marriages to 33 women while he was alive.
...
"Compton writes:
Doesn't this member's faithfulness to the Prophet deserve honor by
members today?
"'In the group of Smith's well-documented wives, eleven (33 percent)
were 14 to 20 years old when they married him. Nine wives (27
percent) were twenty-one to thirty years old. Eight wives (24 percent)
were in Smith's own peer group, ages thirty-one to forty. In the group
aged forty-one to fifty, there is a substantial drop off: two wives, or 6
percent, and three (9 percent) in the group aged fifty-one to sixty.'
What Might Joseph Smith Have Eventually Succumbed To, If Not
Bullets?
Article Archived: Jan 16, 2006, at 04:12 PM
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Original Author Of Article: Steve Benson
"'The teenage representation is the largest, though the twenty-year
and thirty-year groups are comparable, which contradicts the
Mormon folk-wisdom that sees the beginnings of polygamy was an
attempt to care for older, unattached women.
"'These data suggest that sexual attraction was an important part of
the motivation for Smith's polygamy. In fact, the command to
multiply and replenish the earth was part of the polygamy theology,
so non-sexual marriage was generally not in the polygamous
program, as Smith taught it.' . . .
Postulating on Joseph Smith's Adulterating
If Mormon charlatan and skirt-chasin' "prophet" Joseph Smith hadn't
been shot out of a jail cell window at the tender age of 39 while being
held for ordering the destruction a newspaper printshop in a vain and
criminal effort to cover his cheatin'-heart tracks, what are the chances
that a deadly attack of syphilis might have eventually done him in?
_____
"Compton [continues]:
Scientific Evidence That Polygamy is a Prime Spreader of Syphilis
"'. . . Utah Mormons (including Joseph's wives) affirmed repeatedly
that Joseph had physical sexual relations with his plural wivesdespite the Victorian conventions in nineteenth-century American
religion which otherwise would have prevented mention of sexual
relations in marriage.'
While there is no evidence that at that time of his death Smith was
infected with syphilis, it is an historically-documented fact that he
was a notoriously lecherous polygamist--and thus a looming target
for infection.
"- Faithful Mormon Melissa Lott (Smith Willes) testified that she had
been Joseph's wife 'in very deed' (affidavit of Melissa Willes, 3
August 1893, Temple Lot case, pp. 98, 105; Foster, Religion and
Sexuality, p. 156).
It is also a documented fact that polygamy is often a leading cause of
syphilis in societies where it is widely practiced.
"- In a court affidavit, faithful Mormon Joseph Noble wrote that
Joseph told him he had spent the night with Louisa Beaman (Temple
Lot Case, p. 427).
Recent scientific case studies of communities from Africa to the
tropics in which polgyamy is culturally accepted and encouraged
indicate that it can be a clear contributor to the onslaught of this
dreaded sexually-transmitted disease:
"- Emily D. Partridge (Smith Young) said she "roomed" with Joseph
the night following her marriage to him and said that she had 'carnal
intercourse' with him. (Temple Lot case [complete transcript], pp.
364, 367, 384; see Foster, Religion and Sexuality, p. 15).
". . . [P]olygamy . . . [is a ] factor aiding the spread of . . . diseases
[such as syphilis] . . . "
"In total, 13 faithful Latter-day Saint women who were married to
Joseph Smith swore court affidavits that they had sexual relations
with him.
http://sti.bmjjournals.com/cgi/conten...
_____
6
"- Joseph Smith's personal secretary records that on May 22, 1843,
Smith's first wife Emma found Joseph and Eliza Partridge secluded in
an upstairs bedroom at the Smith home. Emma was devastated
(William Clayton's journal entry for 23 May [1843]; see Smith, pp.
105-106).
NOW. Read these verses from Section 132 of Doctrine and
Covenants to see how Smith used the verbage to justify having sex
with other men's wives (also used to stifle the guilt of the preyed
upon women, no doubt... shhh it is okay to have sex with me even
though you are married! God says so right... here...):
41 And as ye have asked concerning adultery, verily, verily, I say
unto you, if a man receiveth a wife in the new and everlasting
covenant, and if she be with another man, [Noggin explains: that is if
a man marries a woman but she is married already to another
man]and I have not appointed unto her by the holy anointing, she
hath committed adultery and shall be destroyed. 42 If she be not in
the new and everlasting covenant, and she be with another man, she
has committed adultery.
As I have explained before, the use of the word "NOT" is the key.
Careful observation reveals that "god" has another set of parameters
whereby marrying another man's wife is not going to be considered
adulterey for that woman. The condition that Smith has god set forth
is the "Holy Annointing". The Holy Annointing could be the secret
quorum of the 50 that Joseph instigated or could be just the
endowment which, back then, was only presented to men and women
who wanted to enter into a top secret polygamous marriage. Only the
elite were allowed at first.
"- Smith's secretary William Clayton also recorded a visit to young
Almera Johnson on May 16, 1843: 'Prest. Joseph and I went to
B[enjamin] F. Johnsons to sleep.' Johnson himself later noted that on
this visit Smith stayed with Almera 'as man and wife' and 'occupied
the same room and bed with my sister, that the previous month he
had occupied with the daughter of the late Bishop Partridge as his
wife.'
"Almera Johnson also confirmed her secret marriage to Joseph Smith:
'I lived with the prophet Joseph as his wife and he visited me at the
home of my brother Benjamin F.' (Zimmerman, I Knew the Prophets,
p. 44; see also The Origin of Plural Marriage, Joseph F. Smith, Jr.,
Deseret News Press, pp. 70-71)
"- Faithful Mormon and Stake President Angus Cannon told Joseph
Smith's son: 'Brother Heber C. Kimball, I am informed, asked [Eliza
R. Snow] the question if she was not a virgin although married to
Joseph Smith and afterwards to Brigham Young, when she replied in
a private gathering, "I thought you knew Joseph Smith better than
that"' (Stake President Angus M. Cannon, statement of interview with
Joseph III, p. 23, LDS archives).
The endowment was ONLY to be given for the express purpose of
binding the couple up into secrecy that they would never divulge the
secret of plural wifery they were entering into.
Summary
http://www.i4m.com/think/history/joseph_smith_sex.htm
_____
Verse 42 also says that "NOT" word again. Do you see that if this
same woman IS in the New and Everlasting covenant (plural
marriage) and IS simultaneously with another man she will not be
committing adulterey???
Playing the Odds on Joseph Smith: Modern-day LDS Prophet--or
Future-day STD Promoter?
These two verses are nothing more that Smith pupeteering and
ventriloquisting Jesus Christ! Manipulating the women of his day to
believe that sex outside of monogamy was perfectly fine. Men can
have sex with many women... and here in the fine print women can
have sex with more than one man!
Supposing Latter-day Saint bed-hoppin,' women-boppin' Joseph
Smith had somehow managed to dodge those Carthage bullets and
lived to philander another day, what are the chances he might have
eventually fallen prey to the insidious sexually-transmitted disease of
syphilis, thanks to his predatory, promiscuous, polygamous practices?
Just plain old repulsive. Tums, mylanta... no, a barf bag is needed to
stomach it all.
Talk about spreadin' the Mormon gospel.
Apologists: "Yay! Polygamy (and by inference, polyandry)is such a
holy institution! I cannot wait for God to re reveal it so that we can
have the true fullness of the gospel here on earth again!"
To Those Who Wonder If Joseph Had Sex With Other Men's Wives
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What are they thinking?
wretching noises
The Role Of Women In Momonism
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I see FAIR has belched up the excuses that maintain that though
Smith married many women, some of whom were already married,
he never had sex with them. Seems the drones are asking the pesky
type questions again over there... The apologetic response is nothing
more than a large club to knock senseless those who dared to ask.
Brigham Young, Heber C Kimball and others were taught the
polygamy concept by Joseph Smith. All who were taught the plural
wifery system of marriage had sex with their wives. This is not
debated any more. Joseph Smith, through "god" in revelations,
sanctioned sexual relations in polygamy.
In May 1843, Joseph Smith took his twenty-sixth bride, a fourteenyear-old girl named Helen Mar Kimball. At the time, Smith was
thirty-seven and had been married for sixteen years to Emma (since
January 1827). Unbeknownst to Emma, Smith had been busily
7
wedding and bedding twenty-four other women, illegally, since 1833.
Apparently, Heber and Vilate Kimball, Helen's parents, were fully
aware that Emma had no idea that he had begun this practice of
polygamy. My incredulity of how parents could be as gullible,
callous and irresponsible as to agree to the marriage of a girl of
Helen's age to anyone, especially a man Joseph's age led me to do a
bit of research.
Apostles, and all the authorities unite and say with one voice that
they will oppose the doctrine, and the whole of them will be
damned." - Apostle Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, vol. 5,
p. 203
Well, deny Mormonism I do. Ditto polygamy. I could never believe
in a god that would tell me my cherished daughter, DD, had no
greater purpose in life than to meet the sexual and reproductive needs
of a man. The following is an excerpt from Helen Mar Kimball's
1881 autobiography.
Just previous to my father's starting up his last mission but one to the
Eastern States, he taught me the principle of Celestial marriage, and
having a great desire to be connected with the Prophet Joseph, he
offered me to him; this I afterwards learned from the Prophet's own
mouth. My father had but one lamb, but willingly laid her upon the
alter: how cruel this seemed to the mother whose heartstrings were
already stretched until they were ready to snap asunder for he had
taken Sarah Noon to wife and she thought she had made sufficient
sacrifice but the Lord required more. I will pass over the temptations
which I had during the twenty four hours after my father introduced
to me the principle and asked me if I would be sealed to Joseph who
came next morning and with my parents I heard him teach and
explain the principle of Celestial marriage - after which he said to me
, "If you will take this step, it will ensure your eternal salvation and
exaltation and that . . . of your fathers householdand all of your
kindred." I willingly gave myself to purchase so glorious a reward.
None but God and angels could see my mother's bleeding heart, when
Joseph asked her if she was willing, she replied, "If Helen is willing,
I have nothing more to say." She had witnessed the sufferings of
others, who were older and who better understood the step they were
taking, and to see her child, who had scarcely seen her fifteenth
summer, following in the same thorny path, in her mind she saw the
misery which was so sure to come as the sun was to rise and set; but
it was all hidden from me. - Mormon Enigma-Emma Hale Smith,
Newell & Avery, p. 146
Smith's assurance that Helen was purchasing her family's eternal
salvation is a perfect example of the type of manipulation used by
pedophiles. Only this was done in her parents' presence, which makes
what I can only call the seduction of Helen Kimball all the more
egregious. The fact that Helen acknowledges her mother's pain at
"seeing her child, who had scarcely seen her fifteenth summer" be
married off, seems to indicate that marriages at this age were not
common or looked upon favorably.
First, let me nip an anticipated argument in the bud. It was not
"normal" or common for girls and boys of 14 or 15 to marry during
that era. It was, I believe, legal . . . but it was not the custom.
Generally speaking, men and women were in their twenties when
they married. It would have been especially uncommon for a man
nearing forty to take a teenaged bride.
My research led me to some not unexpected findings about the
Kimballs. Vilate was apparently completely taken in by Smith and
had already allowed her husband to take at least one plural wife at the
time she consented to Helen's marriage. I understand the plight of
women was different in the 1800s but I find it difficult to respect a
mother who would allow her young daughter to be treated as a harem
girl. I strongly suspect Vilate's life was one of misery and regret so
I'll try to reserve judgment since I'm sure she suffered for her
mistakes. Although whether she ever recognized her decisions as
mistakes, I do not know.
When I read about Heber Kimball, everything began to make sense.
If he were alive today, we would consider him an emotionally
abusive husband and father, not to mention a quintessential male
chauvinist pig. Yet, he was made an Apostle of the LDS church.
Since I cannot believe this was a divine calling, I must assume it
resulted from his complicity with Joseph Smith. Following are a few
facts about Mr. Kimball and a few quotes that explain everything.
"I think no more of taking another wife than I do of buying a cow." Apostle Heber C. Kimball, The Twenty Seventh Wife, Irving
Wallace, p. 101.
After the church apostle took his last wife at age fifty-six, he begot
seventeen children by her and four other wives.
Speaking to a group of departing missionaries, Apostle Kimball
instructed...
"Brethren, I want you to understand that it is not to be as it has been
heretofore. The brother missionaries have been in the habit of picking
out the prettiest women for themselves before they get here, and
bringing on the ugly ones for us; hereafter you have to bring them all
here before taking any of them, and let us all have a fair shake." Apostle Heber C. Kimball, The Lion of the Lord, ffice:smarttags"
/>New York, 1969, pp.129-30.
and again...
"I say to those who are elected to go on missions, remember they are
not your sheep: they belong to Him that sends you. Then do not make
a choice of any of those sheep; do not make selections before they are
brought home and put into the fold. You under stand that. Amen" Apostle Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p.256.
Also...
"I have noticed that a man who has but one wife, and is inclined to
that doctrine, soon begins to wither and dry up, while a man who
goes into plurality [of wives] looks fresh, young, and sprightly." Apostle Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses Vol 5, page 22
From the pulpit in General Conference, church members were
warned:
"Some quietly listen to those who speak against the plurality of
wives, and against almost every principle that God has revealed. Such
persons have half-a-dozen devils with them all the time. You might
as well deny 'Mormonism,' and turn away from it, as to oppose the
plurality of wives. Let the Presidency of this Church, and the Twelve
I simply cannot fathom doing to DD what Helen's parents did to her.
Didn't something in their heads scream, "This is NOT of God!" I can
only say that this is what I believe comes from blind obedience and
blind faith. But by allowing DD to be raised in the Mormon church,
even part time, am I as guilty as the Kimballs? Am I teaching my
daughter that her ultimate goal is to live a life of "righteous
obedience" to her church and her husband so that she may be led by
her husband to Celestial glory? And there, in the Celestial Kingdom,
her role will be to serve her husband alongside his plethora of eternal
wives?
What is my guilt? What is my shame? What will be my judgment?
And more than I fear any judgment that may come from God, I
already grieve about the judgment that may someday come from this
precious daughter that God has blessed me with. Someday, I hope
and pray, she will come to the same conclusions I have about the
LDS church. When she does, will she look at me and ask, just as
Helen Mar Kimball may have asked her parents, "How could you?"
Joseph Smith – Rotation Is The Name Of The Game
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There is no documentation to support the idea that marriage at
fourteen was "approaching eligibility." Actually, marriages even two
years later, at the age of sixteen, occurred occasionally but
infrequently in Helen Mar's culture. Thus, girls marrying at fourteen,
even fifteen, were very much out of the ordinary. Sixteen was
comparatively rare, but not unheard of. American women began to
marry in their late teens; around different parts of the United States
the average age of marriage varied from nineteen to twenty-three.
Finally, Johnson, “almost ready to burst with emotion,” looked his
friend in the eye and said, “Brother Joseph This is Something I did
not Expect & do not understand it – You know whether it is Right. I
do not. I want to do just as you tell me and I will try. But if I ever
Should know that you do this to Dishonor & debauch my Sister I will
kill you as Shure as the Lord lives.”
In the United States the average age of menarche (first menstruation)
dropped from 16.5 in 1840 to 12.9 in 1950. More recent figures
indicate that it now occurs on average at 12.8 years of age. The mean
age of first marriages in colonial America was between 19.8 years to
23.7, most women were married during the age period of peak
fecundity (fertility).
Johnson explained why he granted Joseph’s request. “I know that
Joseph was Command to take more wives and he waited until an
angel with a Drawn Sword Stood before him and declared that if he
no longer delayed fulfilling that Command he would Slay him.”
Mean pubertal age has declined by some 3.7 years from the 1840’s.
The psychological sexual maturity of Helen Mar Kimball in today’s
average age of menarche (first menstruation) would put her
psychological age of sexual maturity at the time of the marriage of
Joseph Smith at 9.1 years old. (16.5 years-12.8 years =3.7 years)
(12.8 years-3.7 years=9.1 years)
Joseph married Almira Johnson in the late summer. Johnson recorded
that “the prophet Came and at my house occupied the Same Room &
bed with my Sister [Almira] that the month previous he had occupied
with the Daughter of the Late Bishop Partridge as his wife.”
Source: p. 146, Mormon Enigma, Second Edition
The fact is Helen Mar Kimball's sexual development was still far
from complete. Her psychological sexual maturity was not competent
for procreation. The coming of puberty is regarded as the termination
of childhood; in fact the term child is usually defined as the human
being from the time of birth to the on-coming of puberty. Puberty the
point of time at which the sexual development is completed. In young
women, from the date of the first menstruation to the time at which
she has become fitted for marriage, the average lapse of time is
assumed by researchers to be two years.
The pure and holy order of marriage?
Yes, of course it is.
Was It Normal To Marry 14 Year-Old Girls In Joseph Smith's
Time?
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Age of eligibility for women in Joseph Smith’s time-frame would
start at a minimum of 19 ½ years old.
This would suggest that Joseph Smith had sexual relations and
married several women before the age of eligibility, and some very
close to the age of eligibility including:
Fanny Alger 16
Sarah Ann Whitney 17
Lucy Walker 17
Flora Ann Woodworth 16
Emily Dow Partridge 19
Sarah Lawrence 17
Maria Lawrence 19
Helen Mar Kimball 14
Melissa Lott 19
Nancy M. Winchester [14?]
"And I will bless Joseph Smith and multiply him and give unto him
an hundredfold in this world, of fathers and mothers, brothers and
sisters, houses and lands, wives and children, and crowns of eternal
lives in the eternal worlds."
"And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot
commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him;
therefore is he justified."
"But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused [to
Joseph Smith], shall be with another man, she has committed
adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto Joseph Smith
to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment,
and to fulfil 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; for herein is the work of my
Father continued, that he may be glorified." - Doctrine and Covenants
Section 132:55, 62-63
Many LDS Church leaders and historians suggest that sexual
relations and the marriage of Joseph Smith and his youngest wife,
Helen Mar Kimball, fourteen at the time, was "approaching
eligibility."
And then we have these testimonies:
"Joseph was very free in his talk about his women. He told me one
day of a certain girl and remarked, that she had given him more
pleasure than any girl he had ever enjoyed. I told him it was horrible
to talk like this." - Joseph Smith's close confidant and LDS Church
First Councilor, William Law, Interview in Salt Lake Tribune, July
31, 1887
When Heber C. Kimball asked Sister Eliza R. Snow the question if
she was not a virgin although married to Joseph Smith, she replied, "I
thought you knew Joseph Smith better than that." - Stake President
Angus M. Cannon, statement of interview with Joseph III, 23, LDS
archives.
Short Bios of Smith's wives: http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org
9
Dr. Dorothy V. Whipple, Dynamics of Development: Euthenic
Pediatrics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966)
Did Smith have sex with his wives?:
http://www.i4m.com/think/history/jose...
http://www.i4m.com/think/index.html
Whatever the average age of menarche might have been in the mid
19th-century, the average age of marriage was around 20 for women
and 22 for men. And a gap of 15 to 20 years or more between
partners was very unusual, not typical. Whatever biology might have
to say, according to the morals of his time, several of Joseph Smith's
wives were still inappropriately young for him.
Take My Joseph Smith Quiz For TBMs Who Ask Me Why I Don't
Believe
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It is a pure myth that 19th-century American girls married at age 1214.
For example, Laura Ingalls Wilder, from Little House on the Prairie
fame, was born in 1867, which puts her later than Joseph Smith but
still in the 1800s. She tells of hearing of the marriage of a 13-year-old
girl, and being shocked. She also notes that the girl's mother 'takes in
laundry,' and is sloppy and unkempt--implying that "nice" people
don't marry off their teenaged daughters. Laura, herself, became
engaged at 17--but her parents asked her to wait until she was 18 to
marry.
You say “I know Joseph Smith Jr. was a prophet of God” as
testimony to the truthfulness of Mormonism. Take the following quiz
to find out how much you really know about him.
Joseph Smith Jr. 1. How many women did Joseph Smith marry while
he was alive besides Emma? A: thirty-two.
You merely need to go to your local courthouse and ask to see the old
19th century marriage books. Take a look at and pay attention to the
age at marriage. Sure a very few did, but it was far from the norm.
The vast majority of women married after the age of twenty.
2. How many of these women were older than him? A: five
3. How many of these women were in his peer group of 30-40 years
of age? A: eight
In fact, look up the marriage ages in the Smith family before
polygamy. You'll find that one of the Smith girls was 19. The rest of
them, and their sisters-in-law, were in their early 20s when they
married. The Smith boys' first wives were in their 20s. The same
pattern was true for the various branches of my family and the rest of
American society at the time.
4. How many of these women were 21-29 years of age when he
married them? A: nine
5. How many were less than 20 years of age when he married them?
A: eleven
On the extremely rare occasions women younger than 17 married, it
was to men close to their same age, not 15 to 20 years older.
6. How many were already married to other men when he married
them? A: five
The case is even true in pioneer Utah among first marriages. Mormon
men in their twenties started out marrying someone their own age.
Then later these older men married girls under twenty to be their
plural wives. But the first wives were the age of the husband and
married over the age of twenty. This is still the case is the rural Utah
polygamist communities.
7. How many of these women filed affidavits stating their marriage to
Joseph Smith included sexual intercourse? A: thirteen
References:
10. Her birthday? A: August 28th, 1828
Coale and Zelnik assume a mean age of marriage for white women of
20 (1963: 37). Sanderson's assumptions are consistent with a mean of
19.8 years (Sanderson 1979: 343). The Massachusetts family
reconstitutions revealed somewhat higher mean ages. For Hingham,
Smith reports an age at first marriage of 23.7 at the end of the
eighteenth century (1972: Table 3, p. 177). For Sturbridge, the age
for a comparable group was 22.46 years (Osterud and Fulton 1976:
Table 2, p. 484), and in Franklin County it was 23.3 years (TemkinGreener, H., and A.C. Swedlund. 1978. Fertility Transition in the
Connecticut Valley:1740-1850. Population Studies 32 (March
1978):27-41.: Table 6, p. 34).
11. The date of her marriage to him? A: May 1843
8. How old was the youngest girl that he married? A: fourteen
9. What was her name? A: Helen Mar Kimball
12. His age on that date? A: thirty-eight
13. Would you let your fourteen year old daughter marry a thirtyeight year old man?
14. What kind of thirty-eight year old man would want to marry a 14
year old girl?
15. Number of references to his wives other than Emma on the
JosephSmith.net website sponsored by the LDS Church? A: zero
Jack Larkin, The Reshaping of Everyday Life, 1790-1840 (New
York: Harper & Row, 1988), 63; Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Good
Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New
England, 1650-1750 (NY: Oxford University Press, 1980), 6; Nancy
F. Cott, "Young Women in the Second Great Awakening in New
England," Feminist Studies 3 (1975): 16. Larkin writes,
16. Why zero?
Sources:
FamilySearch.org
Kirtland Temple legal proceedings
10
who cares?] “that their posterity may become white, delightsome and
just, for even now their females are more virtuous than the gentiles.”
William W. Phelps, who was Joe’s secretary and who copied the
revelation, said, “I asked brother Joseph privately, how ‘we,’ that
were mentioned in the revelation could take wives of the ‘natives’ as
we were all married men? He replied instantly, ‘In the same manner
that Abraham took Hagar and Keturah; that Jacob took Rachel,
Bilhah and Zilpah; by revelation – the saints of the Lord are always
directed by” [so-called] “revelation.”
Joseph Smith - Was He A Sexual Predator? - A Giveaway Clue
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Source: p. 65, Mormon Enigma, 2nd Edition
Joseph Smith - Was he a sexual predator? - A giveaway clue
The problem is that there doesn’t seem to be a single instance in the
Bible, where we find polygamy being sanctioned or directed by God.
In a recent conversation with my church-devoted mother, I talked
about Joseph Smith’s extra-marital sexual relationships. I talked
about his grooming of the 12 year-old Mary Elizabeth Rollins
Lightner, and also his so-called marriages to the 14 year-old Helen
Mar Kimball and to the 14 or 15 year-old Nancy Winchester, and his
affairs with other men’s wives. I may also have mentioned his abuse
of his adopted daughters.
“Mormons believe that Joseph asked the Lord why plural wives were
acceptable in the day of Abrham, Isaac, and Jacob but not in his day.
…several of Joseph’s contemporaries would state that he had
received a revelation approving plural marriage in 1831.”
Source: p. 65, Mormon Enigma, 2nd Edition
http://www.thercg.org/articles/ttap.h...
Joseph’s Lie about God giving the thumbs up to biblical or any other
polygamy only works on the ignorant.
Anyway, my main purpose is just to point out that the very fact that
Joseph asks the question is “the principle of taking more wives than
one is a true principle” is a complete giveaway clue.
Only a depraved person would ask such a question. Only a
degenerate person would invents a set of so-called revelations in
order to pretend that God had given him the go-ahead to lead the vile
and abusing lifestyle that Joseph Smith led.
Here is one such example:
“In 1869 Orson Pratt said, “[Joseph] has enquired of the Lord [if] the
principle of taking more wives than one is a true principle, but the
time had not yet come for it to be practiced.”
Source: p. 65, Mormon Enigma, 2nd Edition
I think Joseph was extremely cunning. Predators are. They can groom
and prepare over long periods of time, and execute all manner of
tactics in order to practice their craft. In the end, they strike. And the
abuse is severely damaging. Perhaps even fatal.
As I grew up in the church, I had heard this mentioned a number of
times. But the penny never really dropped, until after my exit.
Joseph’s legacy to America is polygamy and sexual abuse. It
mattered more to him than anything else. He reluctantly gave his life
for it.
Think about it, what normal, married or unmarried man, would ever
conceive a question, such as the one Joseph is said to have asked
God? Would such a thought ever enter into the head or into the heart
of a normal, healthy man?
"Lock up your daughters. The mormons are in town". It's not really
that funny, is it, when you consider the roots of mormonism.
I don’t think so.
Cult devoted members can praise him all they like, but Joe gets no
praise from me. He was one of the lowest life forms to exist on our
planet.
The evidence is quite clear. Joseph was dysfunctional. He was
addicted to sex, and nothing in life mattered more to him that his
multiple sexual partners. He had a particular appetite for teenage
girls. Ministerial abuse was par for the course. Taking advantage of
girls and women, unmarried or married, was what he was most
skilled at.
Consider The Sad Story Of Early Mormon Convert, Henry Jacobs,
And How Polygamy Affected His Life
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In order to carry off his predatory plans, he had to convince, inveigle
and entangle others as well. The devil likes company, and this
sexually deviant devil was no exception. He couldn’t be the odd one
out.
How could he ensnare others?
Simple. A new revelation from the Mormon god would do the trick.
Revelations. Thank goodness for the gullible. They always
swallowed Joseph’s so-called revelations, hook, line and sinker.
I entered this thread onto the board about a year ago but thought it
time to put it on again for those who may not be aware of this story.
A revelation was put together, “…near Jackson County, Missouri, on
July 17, 1831…”
I will bet that there are very few faithful members of the Mormon
Church today that are familiar with the story of Henry Jacobs and
how the “new and everlasting covenant” of plural marriage
introduced by founding Mormon prophet Joseph Smith affected this
good and faithful early Mormon convert and priesthood holder. Here
is a brief summary of the true story of this man’s life:
It said:
“For it is my will, that in time, ye should take unto you wives of the
Lamanites and Nephites [Indians]” [Single girls or married ladies,
11
witness. Thus now Henry is married to Zina for “time” as also is
Brigham Young but at least Henry is still being allowed to live with
Zina.
- Baptized into the Mormon Church in 1832 and endured the
hardships of the saints in Kirtland and Missouri.
- Ordained a Seventy, a missionary calling, on Jan. 19, 1839 then
served a short mission starting in May that same year. Served many
missions for the Church and was described as a staunch dedicated
Mormon and an eloquent preacher.
- Henry and Zina leave Nauvoo and their home on Feb 9th, 1846 and
in the bitter cold head across the frozen Mississippi river and towards
the long journey to Winter Quarters, Iowa. Zina bares their 2nd child
along the way in the wagon with Henry nearby. On May 22nd,
though Henry was halfway across Iowa, driving a covered wagon for
his wife and 2 sons, one newly born, though danger and privatation,
at this difficult time, of all times, he was suddenly sent away on a
mission to England by order of Brigham Young. He faithfully and
with obedience, followed his Church leaders and left for England
along with Zina’s brother, Oliver. Zina was then moved in with
Brigham Young's other wives and cared for.
- Met 19 year old Zina D Huntington in early Nauvoo in 1839 while
she was living for a time with her family at the home of Joseph Smith
and his wife, Emma. They took a liking to each other and began
courting that same year.
- Sometime during the midst of Henry and Zina’s courting, Joseph
Smith taught Zina the principal of plural marriage and proposed to
her. Despite Zina’s reverence for the Mormon prophet, she declined
JS’s proposal and put him off at that time and continued to court
Henry. (1840) JS continued to press his suit with Zina at the same
time she was courting Henry. In 1841, Zina made her choice and
decided to marry Henry.
- Henry completes an honorable and very successful mission to
England. On Aug 12th, 1847, Henry and Oliver arrive in New York
City as they are returning from their mission to England. At this time,
Henry gets a letter from Zina telling him that their marriage is over
and she will now be living with Brigham Young as a plural wife from
then on.
- On March 7, 1841, Henry and Zina were married. Joseph Smith had
agreed to marry them but on the date of the marriage, he failed to
show up for the ceremony and so they turned to John C. Bennett
(Mayor of Nauvoo and high Church leader at the time) who
performed the ceremony.
There is much more to this story as those are just some of the
highlights, but I will mention just a few more things. Despite all that
happened to Henry, he remained faithful to the Church. He never lost
his love nor longing to be with his sweet Zina and their two sons.
When he got to SLC in Utah he was later sent by Brigham Young to
California to help with needs there. He was later excommunicated
(BY, again ordering this) for sending letters to Zina telling her how
much he longed to be with her and his family while he was serving in
California. He repented and was later rebaptized into the Church. He
lived in California for many years before being brought back to Utah
by his now grown sons (from his marriage to Zina) in 1880. He died
at age 69 in SLC in 1886. He did have 3 or 4 other marriages along
the way but they were never happy. He remained a faithful member
of the Church up to his death.
- Even right after the marriage, Joseph Smith revealed to Zina and
Henry that the Lord had made it known to him that Zina was to be his
celestial wife and that God had commanded that JS should marry
Zina. Zina, however, continued to put off the prophet with his suit of
her. In Oct of 1841, Zina received a written message from Joseph
Smith that an angel from God had appeared to him with a drawn
sword and told Joseph that he would lose “his position and his life” if
he did not establish polygamy and marry Zina. Thus, Zina, after
sincere prayer, finally acquiesced to marry the prophet Joseph Smith
on October 27th, 1841, despite the fact that she was 7 months
pregnant with Henry Jacob’s child. JS allowed Zina (as with all his
other wives who were married to other men) to continue to live and
cohabit with her first husband, Henry. Thus Henry lost an eternal
companion in Zina to Joseph Smith but at least he could live with her
and their children in this earthly life. They ended up having two
children (sons) together.
God's Top Priority: Sex For Joseph Smith
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- During 1842 to 1844, Henry is sent on several short missions by
Joseph Smith. Joseph is killed by a mob on June 27th, 1844. It now
appears to Henry that he will be able to have Zina to himself at least
for the remainder of their earthly life.
According to Joseph Smith, God kept sending an angel with a sword
to command him to secretly marry more women. This angelic visitor
appeared and literally threatened Joseph Smith's life on at least a halfdozen occasions.
- Sometime after JS’s death, Brigham Young approached Zina (as he
did with many other of JS’s widows) and says it is his responsibility
to his fallen prophet and leader to take on JS’s wives and to be sealed
to them for “time” (not eternity). Thus Brigham Young was sealed to
Zina for time in September of 1844. Henry went along with this
Church leaders council and probably thought this marriage by BY
only a formality, it is assumed, as he and Zina continued to live
together and even had another child on the way by the time the saints
were forced out of Nauvoo by mobs in Feb. of 1846. As the
persecution against the Mormons mounted in Nauvoo toward the end
of 1845 the saints prepared to leave for the “wilderness” and the
temple was just completed at the time, Henry and Zina received their
temple endowments together on Jan 2, 1846. A month later, Zina
(now 25 years old) and 7 months pregnant with Henry’s 2nd child is
married in the temple to Joseph Smith for “eternity” and to Brigham
Young (standing in proxy forJS) for “time” as Henry stands as a
At least that is what he told the women. (Remember the scene from
Blazing Saddles where the Sheriff threatens himself with a gun?)
See: http://www.i4m.com/think/history/ange...
The Prophet's repeated testimony regarding this visiting angel is more
consistent that his stories about the First Vision.
Mormons should recognize an important message from the Prophet
Joseph Smith's experiences with the Angel.
IT CLEARLY DEMONSTRATES GOD'S PRIORITIES.
12
"My father had but one Ewe Lamb, but willingly laid her upon the
altar: how cruel this seemed to my mother whose heartstrings were
already stretched until they were ready to snap asunder, for she had
already taken Sarah Noon to wife and she thought she had made
sufficient sacrifice but the Lord required more." - Helen Mar Whitney
Journal, Helen Mar Autobiography, Womans Exponent, 1880 and
recently reprinted in A Woman's view.
What a shame God didn't send an angel with a sword to straighten
Smith out on these other occasions:
No angel tried to stop him ordaining blacks to the priesthood
No angel corrected him for writing contradictory versions of the First
Vision story
No angel coerced him into not ordering the destruction of the Nauvoo
expositor press
No angel tried to stop him from ordering the Danites to kill Governor
Boggs
No angel corrected him for repeatedly saying that Native Americans
are Lamanites.
No angel warned him to stop having sex with his adopted daughters
No angel warned him not to claim he had accurately translated
Egyptian
No angel came to tell him what happened to the lost 116 pages
No angel stopped him from committing bank fraud
No angel stopped him from trying to sell the copyright to the Book of
Mormon
No angel told him to take naked touching out of the endowment
ceremony (that didn't happen until Jan 2005)
No angel tried to stop him from using a gun at Carthage to kill two
men, thus preventing him from dying like an innocent martyr
No angel chastised him from declaring he was greater than Jesus
Christ
Nope. Angelic messengers were complete no-shows, except for when
Smith supposedly didn't want to seduce teenagers and other men's
wives, and then WALA, A MIRACLE! The Lord sends His angel to
force Smith into secret adultery!
In fact, the Prophet Joseph Smith gave Helen only 24 hours to decide
on whether or not to marry him. Of this, Helen wrote:
"[my father] left me to reflect upon it for the next twenty four hours.
... I was skeptical - one minute believed, then doubted. I thought of
the love and tenderness that he felt for his only daughter, and I knew
that he would not cast me off, and this was the only convincing proof
That I had of its being right."
The next morning, 37 year-old Joseph Smith finally came himself to
the family to explain the "law of Celestial Marriage" and claim his
teen bride.
In her memoir, Helen wrote, "After which he said to me, 'if you take
this step, it will ensure your eternal salvation and exaltation and that
of your father's household and all of your kindred.' This promise was
so great that I willingly gave myself to purchase so glorious a
reward."
Helen also writes about her mother's reaction to all of this:
"None but God and his angels could see my mother's bleeding heart when Joseph asked her if she was willing, she replied 'If Helen is
willing I have nothing more to say."
What kind of God do Mormons worship?
"She had witnessed the sufferings of others, who were older and who
better understood the step they were taking, and to see her child, who
had yet seen her fifteenth summer, following the same thorny path, in
her mind she saw the misery which was as sure to come as the sun
was to rise and set; but it was hidden from me."
Mormonism's Greatest Revelation: Sex For Salvation
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Helen thought her marriage to Joseph Smith was only dynastic. But
to her surprise, it was more. Helen confided to a close friend in
Nauvoo:
Of all the gospel doctrines Joseph Smith established, none received
this much attention from the Lord. For the Lord sent his angels to
Joseph Smith over a dozen times to make sure he taught and
practiced it.
"I would never have been sealed to Joseph had I known it was
anything more than ceremony. I was young, and they deceived me,
by saying the salvation of our whole family depended on it." Polygamy: A History, by LDS member Richard S. Van Wagoner, p.
53.
This vital doctrine had the most saving power over any gospel
ordinance, because it guaranteed the salvation of an entire family for
only one person's obedience to it!
Smith married fourteen year-old Helen just one month after dictating
the revelation of D&C Section 132. In it, the Lord declares that Smith
can take even "ten virgins" in order to "multiply and replenish the
earth" and he is not committing adultery. (See D&C 132:62-63)
That's right - the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that only one person in
a family needed to obey this gospel doctrine in order to save their
entire family. But if they rejected the doctrine, then he warned that
the Lord would destroy the whole family.
What would Mormons do today if the Church still practiced this
doctrine? What if a Bishop or Stake President could extend salvation
to an entire family by taking one of their teen daughters as a bride?
That's exactly the proposal the Prophet Joseph Smith gave to fourteen
year-old Helen Mar Kimball.
Why can't Mormons today recognize the moral depravity in Joseph
Smith's actions towards his followers?
Helen wrote:
Did angels really force Joseph Smith into behaving like this?
"Having a great desire to be connected with the Prophet, Joseph, he
(my father) offered me to him; this I afterwards learned from the
Prophet's own mouth."
Church history says yes: http://www.i4m.com/think/history/ange...
13
Joseph Smith, Menses, Pedophilia, Etc
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http://www.svdltd.com/sells/cpa/artic...
Boys and girls now experience puberty at younger ages than previous
generations. In general, girls enter puberty between ages 8 and 13 and
reach menarche (first menstruation) several years later, while boys
enter puberty between ages 9 and 14 (436, 529). The reasons for
earlier menarche in girls are not well understood. Most of the change
is attributed to better health and nutrition (160, 185, 529). In North
America age at menarche decreased by three to four months each
decade after 1850; in 1988 the median age at menarche was 12.5
years among US girls (160, 529). In some developing countries age at
menarche appears to be decreasing even faster. For example, in
Kenya average age at menarche fell from 14.4 in the late 1970s to
12.9 in the 1980s (185).
In our efforts to sort through the wasteland that is Mormon history,
(fact vs. fiction) it's worthwhile, at least to me, to have some context
within which to make our judgments.
A poster on the other thread derided the notion that the age of sexual
maturity among women has changed or is still changing. The
statistics are very clear on this however: The age of menarche is
dropping in virtually all areas of the world. More on that below.
http://www.jhuccp.org/pr/j41/j41chap1...
The other claim being disputed is that Joseph Smith was a pedophile.
While it's easy to throw that word around in light of today's problems
with child abusing priests in the catholic clergy, the fact remains that
pedophilia is defined as: "The act or fantasy on the part of an adult of
engaging in sexual activity with a child or children."
So perhaps more for my own benefit than anyone else's, it helps to
understand the context from within which we assess the lecherous
scumbag known as Joseph Smith. We don't know if he had sex with
prepubescent children, therefore we don't know if he was truly a
pedophile. We don't know if the teenaged girls he married and/or had
sex with were sexually mature or not.
Furthermore, the pathology of pedophilia is understood to be an
attraction or activity that is limited to prepubescent children. It's been
well-established that true pedophiles lose interest almost immediately
when a boy or girl exhibits the first signs of sexual maturity.
But regardless of whether they were sexually mature or not,
something in us is sickened by the thoughts of them being coerced
into any kind of relationship with this lecher who was pretending to
use god as his motivator.
I don't have access to my library of links on this subject from this
computer but a quick Googling of the word pedophilia will take you
to the professional community's definitions. They are very clear as to
what does and what doesn't constitute pedophilia.
Joseph Smith was not the first, nor will he be the last, to prey upon
young girls for sexual gratification. And that in no way justifies his
actions. But in aiming for accuracy in trying to describe Joseph
Smith, there are a lot of words other than pedophile that do the job
more saliently and succinctly.
By today's definitions, when it comes to the pathology of pedophilia,
Joseph Smith would probably not be considered a true pedophile.
That doesn't mean however, that he wasn't a lecherous scumbag who
would stop at nothing to bed any young woman who captured his
fancy.
Lecherous scumbag keeps coming to mind for some reason.
What one of us as fathers here today, would hesitate for a second to
deck a sumbitch like J.S. if he so much as glanced in any of our
daughter's directions? I know that my response would be visceral and
swift.
More on sexual maturity among women.
As closely as I can tell from investigating the median age of
menarche (first menses) in Joseph Smith's time, it is possible that one
or two of the girls he married and/or had relations with might not
have been sexually mature. All of the research I've been able to find,
(and it's not all linked here) indicates that the average age of
menarche in the mid 1800s was 17.
Makes you wonder what kind of men Smith had around him that they
would so willingly hand over their young daughters to him. Therein
lies the true pathology of mormonism.
Joseph Smith, His Attempts To Seduce Sarah Pratt, The
Manipulative Dr. Bennett, And Abortions Reportedly Done For
Smith By The Doctor
Article Archived: Jan 22, 2007, at 06:56 AM
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What that might tell us about a girl who was 14 or 15 back then is
hard to determine because of the nature of averages. In any event, it
does make it clear that Joseph Smith was treading a very fine fine
when it came to the sexual maturity of the girls he courted and/or
married.
There is a lot of research in this arena because of the alarming shift in
menarchal age from the 1800s to present day where the median onset
of menarche has now dropped to age 12.
2. In 1840, the average young woman in Europe and the United
States menstruated for the first time at the age of 17; her modern
counterpart reaches the age of menstruation at about 12. Well known
to biological anthropologists as the "secular trend," this crash in the
age of sexual maturity has proceeded at the rate of four months per
decade, and, in most populations, continues.
JOSEPH ATTEMPTS TO SEDUCE SARAH PRATT, ORSON
PRATT'S WIFE (Joseph Smith the First Mormon 1977 by Donna
Hill p.297)
By the spring of 1842, disquieting rumors had already been in
circulation in Nauvoo for several months about the flamboyant Dr.
14
[John Cook] Bennett who had risen so suddenly to a spectacular
place among the Saints. Besides acting as first counsellor to the
prophet while Sydney Rigdon was ill, Bennett had become mayor of
Nauvoo, chancellor of the university and president of the Nauvoo
Agricultural and Manufacturing Association. He held the rank of
major general in the Nauvoo Legion and directed its organization and
training. After only eighteen months in Nauvoo he had become
second in power to no one but the prophet himself...
My friend continues:
You will see that this also covers a fair amount of information about
John Bennett. I mentioned in an email to you before that he was an
interesting part of Joseph's circumstances in Nauvoo, a rather
unsavoury character that became one of Joseph's entourage for, as far
as I can tell, two reasons: 1) He was a master Mason, and had the
connections that got Joseph into Masonry, which Joseph later used to
flesh out the temple ceremony doctrines; 2) He had the political
savvy to help Joseph fulfill his political aspirations.
Bennett also claimed to have had the confidence of Sarah Pratt. Like
many missionaries' wives who were left without support, Sarah had
done cooking, sewing and washing to keep herself and her children,
and Bennett had taken meals with her. According to Bennett, Sarah
had confided to him that Joseph had told her the Lord had given her
to him as one of his spiritual wives but she had replied that she did
not believe in such revelations, and would never break her marriage
covenant with Orson [Pratt]. Bennett said that Joseph warned her not
to repeat what had happened, but Sarah told her husband when he
came home. Orson faced Joseph, but Joseph denied everything and
tried to blacken Sarah's reputation.
There is a book about his life now, called The Saintly Scoundrel: The
Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett. The Amazon website for it
is here:
http://www.amazon.com/Saintly-Scoundr...
He was an integral part of Joseph's life in Nauvoo and, I believe, fit
right in with Joseph Smith's real character. He is critical to any real
understanding of the Nauvoo period. You may also recall that, in a
previous email you sent me, it referred to Dr. Bennett doing
abortions:
Considering Bennett's character and his vendetta against the prophet,
it is not likely that his story about Joseph and Sarah is entirely
reliable. However, it seems that something occurred between Joseph
and Sarah that made her indignant, since some years later she told an
interviewer that he had made propositions to her that enraged her and
that she had refused the aid she was supposed to receive from the
church while Orson was on his mission. (Wilhelm Wyl, Mormon
Portraits, Salt Lake City, 1886, p.61). According to Joseph III,
however, Sarah denied to him that his father had ever said an
improper word to her. "Memoirs of President Joseph Smith," The
Saints Herald, January 22, 1935, p.109 as quoted by Brodie, p.316 n.)
http://olivercowdery.com/smithhome/18...
"A doctor in Nauvoo, and once a close associate of Joseph Smith,
was accused by Hyrum Smith of practicing abortions. Hyrum
testified that Dr. Bennett was propositioning women in a similar
fashion to Joseph Smith. "[Dr. Bennett] endeavoured to seduce them,
and accomplished his designs by saying it was right; that it was one
of the mysteries of God, which was to be revealed when the people
was strong enough in faith to bear such mysteries—that it was
perfectly right to have illicit intercourse with females, providing no
one knew it but themselves, vehemently trying them from day to day,
to yield to his passions, bringing witnesses of his own clan to testify
that there were such revelations and such commandments, and that
they were of God; also stating that he would be responsible for their
sins, if there were any, and that he would give them medicine to
produce abortions, provided they should become pregnant." Affidavit of Hyrum Smith. Official History of the Church, Vol. 5,
p.71
In any event, the story Orson heard from Sarah or Bennett or both
apparently so upset him that for a time he was irrational.
Joseph records that on August 29, 1842, Orson disappeared from
Nauvoo and that most of the city turned out in search of him. Orson
was found on the riverbank after an attempt to destroy himself.
(History of the Church, V, 138.) [My friend noted: Knowing the
reputation of Bennett at this point, it is hardly likely that Orson would
have tried to kill himself over Bennett's words. It seems more likely
that it came directly from his wife.]
Now, this paints Bennett as a scoundrel, according to Hyrum. But
Hyrum doesn't go quite far enough. Bennett was also performing
abortions for Joseph:
For a while Sarah and Orson withdrew from the church, but later,
according to his brother Parley's great-granddaughter, Parley
persuaded Orson that it was better to overlook the matter and keep
harmony in the church. (Reva Stanley, A Biography of Parley P.
Pratt; the Archer of Paradise, Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers Ltd.
1937), p.158.)
Testimony of Sarah Pratt, wife of Apostle Orson Pratt (same link)
http://olivercowdery.com/smithhome/18...
"One day they came both, Joseph and Bennett, on horseback to my
house. Bennett dismounted, Joseph remained outside. Bennett wanted
me to return to him a book I had borrowed from him. It was a socalled doctor-book. I had a rapidly growing little family and wanted
to inform myself about certain matters in regard to babies, etc., -- this
explains my borrowing that book. While giving Bennett his book, I
observed that he held something in the left sleeve of his coat. Bennett
smiled and said: 'Oh, a little job for Joseph; one of his women is in
trouble.' Saying this. he took the thing out of his left sleeve. It was a
pretty long instrument of a kind I had never seen before. It seemed to
be of steel and was crooked at one end. I heard afterwards that the
operation had been performed; that the woman was very sick, and
that Joseph was very much afraid that she might die, but she
recovered.
Orson never wanted to lose the priesthood or his standing as a
member of the twelve. On January 20, 1843, the Quorum of the
Twelve met at the home of Brigham Young in Orson's presence, to
reconsider his case. On that same day Orson and Sarah were
rebaptized in the river and Orson was restored as an apostle. (Minutes
of the Council of Twelve, in box labelled "High Council Meetings
etc., Conference and Public Meetings," HDC.)
Orson afterward wrote to a cousin, "J.C. Bennett has published lies
concerning myself & my family & the people with which I am
connected. His book I have read with the greatest disgust No candid
honest man can or will believe it." (Parley P. Pratt to "Dear Cousin"
[John Van Cott in New York], May 7, 1843. Orson Pratt papers,
HDC. Orson's comments were attached to Parley's letter.)
15
"Bennett was the most intimate friend of Joseph for a time. He
boarded with the prophet. He told me once that Joseph had been
talking with him about his troubles with Emma, his wife. 'He asked
me,' said Bennett, smilingly, 'what he should do to get out of the
trouble ?' I said, 'This is very simple. GET A REVELATION that
polygamy is right, and all your troubles will be at an end."
No, there is no stained dress or other physical evidence of a sexual
relationship. But the history record is pretty clear what Smith's
polygamy was all about.
My friend continues:
1. According to current LDS scripture, sex was the only reason
Joseph Smith was commanded to marry virgins "a hundred fold" in
this life. See D&C 132:62-63.
Here are top ten reasons why I think Joseph Smith intended to have
sex with his teen bride, Helen Mar Kimball:
The Pratt family was interesting for another reason- Parley P. Pratt,
Orson's older brother. My father recently read an LDS book about
Pratt's life. When I asked him about how Parley died, he said he was
shot by an assassin.
2. Smith received this "Divine Law" to only take virgins, which also
exempted him from adultery (a sex sin), during the same time he
married Helen. He married Helen in May of 1843 and wrote D&C
132 a month later, in June of that same year.
The actual truth is a little more complex than the church book, which
doesn't want members to know the truth. On a mission, Parley
seduced a woman into becoming one of his plural wives. He later
fled, and the husband tracked him down and shot him:
3. There is no recorded revelation during Joseph Smith's lifetime that
he should enter into polygamy for dynastic or any other purpose other
than "raising up seed." To those who say Smith married Helen for
something other than sex, I ask: "where is the revelation?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parley_P...
Parley P. Pratt
4. In the Book of Mormon the Lord expressly forbids polygamy for
any other reason than to "raise up seed." See BoM Jacob 24-30. So a
dynastic-only marriage would have been a sin.
Parley Parker Pratt (12 April 1807–13 May 1857) (commonly known
as Parley P. Pratt) was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and
an original member of The Quorum of Twelve Apostles from 1835
until his murder in 1857. He served in the Quorum with his younger
brother, Orson Pratt. He was a productive missionary, religious writer
and long-time editor of the religious publication The Latter-day
Saints' Millennial Star.
5. Joseph Smith had sex with his other teen wives, including Fanny
Alger, age 16, Sarah Ann Whitney, age 17, Lucy Walker, age 17, and
Flora Ann Woodworth, age 16. So why not Helen? (In fact, Smith
secretly married Helen in the same month he married Lucy and
Flora.)
On a preaching mission in 1857, Pratt was being tracked by Hector
McLean, the disgruntled husband of a woman, Eleanor McLean,
whom Pratt had recently married as a plural wife. McLean pressed
charges, accusing Pratt of coming between him and the woman who
was then his wife. Pratt managed to evade him and his charges, but
was finally arrested in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). He was
tried before Judge John B Ogden, acquitted and released. However,
shortly afterward, he was killed by Hector McLean and two other
men on 13 May 1857, on a farm northeast of Van Buren, Arkansas.
6. Helen said it was more than just a ceremony. In her own testimony,
she wrote "I would never have been sealed to Joseph had I known it
was anything more than ceremony. I was young, and they deceived
me, by saying the salvation of our whole family depended on it."
7. Joseph Smith did not describe his plural marriages as mere
dynastic. He told his close friend and scribe William Clayton that
Helen and the other teen girls "were his lawful, wedded wives,
according to the celestial order" and "his lawful wives in the sight of
Heaven."
8. In Nauvoo, Smith bragged about the pleasure he got from his teen
brides, saying one "had given him more pleasure than any girl he had
ever enjoyed."
Why I Think Smith Intended To Have Sex With His 14 Year-Old
Bride
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9. Everyone Joseph Smith taught his polygamy doctrine to had sex
with their secret brides. None of them thought they were merely
dynastic relationships.
10. Those closest to Joseph Smith understood he married these
women for sex. When Helen's father, Heber C. Kimball, asked Sister
Eliza R. Snow the question if she was not a virgin although married
to Joseph Smith, she replied, "I thought you knew Joseph Smith
better than that."
One of the most common denials regarding Joseph Smith is that he
did not intend to have sex with his 14 year-old bride, Helen Mar
Kimball.
So why didn't Helen get pregnant?
The fact that Joseph Smith married 14 year-old Helen is undisputed
by church apologists. That he did so by promising her family
salvation is also accepted by Mormons who know church history.
It's likely that at age 14, Helen was still not physically mature enough
to get pregnant. Girls that age in the 19th century did not start
menstruating until age 17 to 19.
Yet some still try and argue that because there is no physical
evidence of sexual relations between Smith and his bride, that the
relationship was merely "dynastic" and was not about sex.
See: http://www.i4m.com/think/polygamy/tee...
So where is the evidence Smith's plural marriages were about sex?
16
There is more evidence to suggest that Joseph Smith had sex with his
wives than there is that he saw God and Jesus in 1820. If Mormons
will believe that story with such weak support, why will they not
support such a strong case for Joseph Smith practicing polygamy as
the Lord commanded?
Perhaps.
As Randy Jordan has pointed out:
We have no indisputable evidence that Smith had sex with the 14year-old Helen; but considering Smith's sexual activities with other
women, including teenagers, there is no reason to believe that he
didn't intend to have sex with Helen and produce children, just as he
did with others.
If you read D&C 132 very carefully, you'll note how it bestows upon
Smith the "blessings of Abraham," which, in Mormon theology, was
the blessing of endless posterity. The "revelation" goes on to
command Smith to "go and do the works of Abraham."
It was common during the polygamy period for men to go ahead and
plural marry desirable pre-pubescent girls in order to secure them into
their harems and prevent them from marrying other men. Then when
the girl had reached puberty, she would begin having babies. This is
likely why Helen, even if she did not have sex with Smith,
complained about not being able to socialize like other girls her age:
it was her after-the-fact realization that she had been deceived into
joining Smith's harem, and thus becoming ineligible to be courted by
young, single suitors.
Also, verse 63 gives the *only* reason for Smith to plural marry: "for
they are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according
to my commandment..."
Again, ALL of Smith's statements to those to whom he introduced
into polygamy affirmed that the practice was to have sex and
children, rather than to care for old widows. Following are several
statements from early Mormons which help to explain the concept.
Benjamin Johnson was a close follower of Joseph Smith, and the
brother of one of Smith's plural wives, Almera Johnson. Benjamin
wrote in his journal that Smith had taught:
Let's also remember that
a) At the time Smith "plural married" Helen, he had many other
women with whom he could have sex with; so he could have kept
Helen "in reserve" for the time when she reached puberty, or perhaps
when Smith was horny and no other woman happened to be available
"The first command was to 'multiply' and the prophet taught us that
Dominion and power in the great Future would be commensurate
with the number of 'wives children & friends' that we inherit here and
that our great mission to earth was to organize a [nucleus] of Heaven
to take with us. To the increase of which there would be no end."
b) Smith was killed 13 months after his sealing to Helen, so he
simply may not have had the opportunity to consummate their
relationship before his death. However, it's a virtual certainty that he
would have if he had lived.
Mosiah Hancock, another disciple of Smith, wrote "Bro Joseph said
'the Lord has revealed to me that it is his will that righteous men shall
take righteous women even a plurality of wives that a righteous race
may be sent forth upon the earth preparatory to the ushering in of the
Millenial Reign of our Redeemer---For the Lord has such a high
respect for the nobles of his kingdom that he is not willing for them
to come through the loins of a careless people.' "
The bottom line being that it's futile for Mormon apologists to argue
that Smith's sealing to Helen was "dynastic" or "spiritual" only, in an
effort to show that Smith's plural marriages to young girls were
proper. Helen's own complaint that she was "deceived" into the
sealing, and that she would not have agreed to it if she had known in
advance that it was to be anything other than "spiritual," is enough to
show the impropriety of Smith's motives and actions.
Another example is from the journal of Helen Tracy, who wrote of a
conversation between herself, Lorenzo Snow, and apostle Rudger
Clawson:
There's simply no good reason to believe that had he not been killed,
Smith would not have had sex with Helen just as he did with many
other women.
"The Principle was quite a trial to Sister V. K. [Vilate Kimball, wife
of apostle Heber Kimball] but she essayed to submit to it and went
and chose two very old maids of quite plain and homely appearance
for her husband Bro K[imball] spoke to the Prophet Joseph about it
and he said, Bro K that arrangement is of the devil you go and get
you a young wife one you can take to your bosom and love and raise
children by. A man should choose his own wife and one he can love
and get children by." (As quoted in "Prisoner for Polygamy: The
Memoirs and Letters of Rudger Clawson," p. 12.)
Sarah And Maria, The Lawrence Sisters
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Brigham Young re-affirmed those concepts when he preached:
"Birth control----There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting
to take tabernacles [bodies], now what is our duty?---To prepare
tabernacles for them; to take a course that will not tend to drive those
spirits into the families of the wicked, where they will be trained in
wickedness, debauchery, and every species of crime. It is the duty of
every righteous man and woman to prepare tabernacles for all the
spirits they can. This is the reason why the doctrine of plurality of
wives was revealed, so that the noble spirits which are waiting for
tabernacles might be brought forth." (Discourses of Brigham Young,
p. 197.)
"The Lawrence sisters had come to Nauvoo from Canada without
their parents in 1840 when Maria was about eighteen and Sarah
fifteen. Emma and Joseph offered them a home. According to
William Law's account, the girls had inherited about eight thousand
dollars in 'English gold.' Law said, 'Joseph got to be appointed their
guardian,' and indicated that he and Sidney Rigdon were bondsmen to
Joseph. After Emma approved of the Lawrence marriages, William
Law accused her of doing so with an eye to helping Joseph secure the
inheritance. Joseph's history dated May 30, 1843, reads, 'I
superintended the preparation of papers to settle the Lawrence estate,'
Maybe Smith only INTENDED to have sex with Helen?
17
and four days later the 'accounts of the Lawrence estate were
presented to the probate judge, to which he made objection.'
plural wives, while their husbands toiled, hundreds and even
thousands of miles away, on behalf of the religious organization
established by Smith.
"Apparently problems with the inheritance occupied Joseph for at
least fifteen months. According to Joseph's history, the girls'
stepfather, Josiah Butterfield, insulted him 'so outrageously' on
March 28, 1843, that Joseph 'kicked him out of the house, across the
yard and into the street.' By June 4, 1844, Joseph was counseling
John Taylor 'to go on with the prosecution in behalf of Maria
Lawrence. I concluded to go to Quincy with Taylor, and give up my
bonds of guardianship as administrator of the Lawrence estate.'
According to the info. on the linked webpage, after Smith was killed
and Zina became one of Young's plural wives, she began to live
openly as such. Her husband was sent away on yet another mission
(to England). Why, by 1846, did she allow it to be known in the
Mormon church/community that she was involved with 'the higher
law of Celestial Marriage', when just 6-7 years earlier, polygamy had
caused her great distress? Because she'd been psychologically broken
to the 'principle'.
"Neither of the Lawrence sisters left any account of their marriages to
Joseph, but their experiences were probably similar to those of the
Partridge sisters. For almost a year the four young women would live
with the Smiths, but the situation was most difficult. Emily wrote that
Emma 'said some very bad things' about the plural marriages and her
'interviews were quite common.'"
Her former natural resistance to polygamy, as a woman and someone
with a Protestant religious heritage (Protestantism held that the only
marriage/union authorized by God was between one man and one
woman), had eroded. How was this accomplished? Zina stopped
thinking for herself about the type of marriage that 'God' approved of.
Because she replaced her thoughts and opinions about polygamy with
Joseph's, and over time, her initial, innate rejection of polygamy,
religiously/psychologically and emotionally, eroded.
---"Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith," p. 144.)
Emma Smith vacillated between reluctantly accepting Joseph's affairs
and being outraged to the point of throwing the girls out of her house.
Another psychological factor, IMO, was that after Smith's death,
Young became the most powerful leader in the church. He was a
psychologically strong and willful man. Throughout history, many
women have been attracted to powerful, strong men. Zina was no
different. She'd disempowered herself by going against her initial
instinct that polygamy was wrong and relented to Mormon
patriarchal authority. Zina was unconsciously looking for a
restoration of power in her life. Since she would never be a
priesthood leader in the Mormon Church (exercising power and
authority), the next best thing was to marry the most powerful man in
the church: The President/'Prophet'.
Incidentally, shortly before Smith's death, his former counselor in the
church presidency, William Law, filed charges at Carthage which
included the accusation that Smith was "living in an open state of
adultery with Maria Lawrence."
Mormon Polyandry And Polygamy: "Whatever The Prophet [Joseph
Smith] Did Was Right, Without Making The Wisdom Of God's
Authorities Bend To The Reasoning Of Any Man."
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One of the psychological phenomena in Mormonism during the past
6-7 generations has been the elevated status of Mormon women who
have been married to church leaders. The 'higher' in the pyramidal
leadership structure the husband was (is), the greater the wife's status
in the Mormon community. I think that Young's elevated status in the
church after Smith's death upon becoming church President appealed
to Zina. Her own insecurity would be offset in the Mormon
community by her status as one of the wives of 'the Prophet'.
Henry Jacob's quote comes from:
http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/05-..., which contains info. and
quotes from Todd Compton's "In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural
Wives of Joseph Smith". From that link, note how Joseph Smith
psychologically coerced Zina Huntington Jacobs, a convert with her
family, to marry him after she'd married Henry:
"Zina later wrote, that within months of her marriage to Henry,
"[Joseph] sent word to me by my brother, saying, ‘Tell Zina, I put it
off and put it off till an angel with a drawn sword stood by me and
told me if I did not establish that principle upon the earth I would lose
my position and my life’". In other words, it wasn't Joseph's fault that
he was supposed to marry Zina; the 'blame' was God's, the ultimate
authority figure in the universe, according to the 'spiritual' belief
system of Smith and early church converts."
Even before Zina married Henry, Joseph had approached her to
become one of his plural wives. Note (from the linked webpage) her
mental distress after Smith's 'proposal': "O dear Heaven, grant me
wisdom! Help me to know the way. O Lord, my god, let thy will be
done and with thine arm around about to guide, shield and direct..."
Henry, Zina's first husband, was clearly not powerful/strong. He was
a follower, an obedient 'servant', who year after year, left his wife and
children to obediently go away on a mission. I think Zina grew tired
of his lack of 'spine', and his neglect of her in terms of being around
and a regular part of her life.
Mormon polygamy could not have been achieved had early church
converts such as Zina and Henry not stopped thinking for themselves.
Accepting polygamy, which was morally reprehensible to early
church converts initially because of their Protestant/Christian
heritage, involved replacing their thinking with the beliefs/thinking of
'the Prophet'. Converts thought that they were surrendering their will
to God's when in fact, they were only surrendering their will to
Smith's, which he had 'packaged' as God's will, having convinced
himself that it was.
The history of Mormon polygamy reveals the Smith's Machiavellian
side; he broke people psychologically to the 'principle of plural
wives' in very cunning (and different) ways. In the case of Brigham
Young, he wore the Apostle down psychologically over a period of
months, as indicated in "The Mormons". Smith used the example of
the Old Testament polygamist-patriarch, Abraham, in his
conversations with Young. With 55+ wives and children later in life,
Not surprisingly, Smith had sent Henry away on missions, which
took him far from his wife and family for years (in total). Did Smith
himself make such a sacrifice to 'build up the Kingdom of God on
Earth'? No, he remained in the same community as Zina and his other
18
Young became an Abraham more than any other Mormon priesthood
leader, a great 'patriarch' in the Latter-day 'Kingdom of God on
Earth'.
There are several lines of evidence for this:
First, in marriage the presumption is that sex occurs, unless we have
reason to believe otherwise.
In the case of Zina Huntington Jacobs, the process of psychologically
breaking her to the idea of polygamy involved Smith presenting
himself as an extremely reluctant 'prophet' who had been threatened
with 'divine' destruction via an armed angel if he did not comply (by
marrying Zina, as 'coincidence' would have it).
Second, more than one of Joseph Smith's otherwise-married wives
explicity stated that she was married to him for "*time* and eternity."
Mary Lightner and, if I recall correctly, Patty Sessions specifically
indicated this with respect to their marriages to Smith.
In the case of Apostle Heber C. Kimball and his wife, Vilate, Smith
wasn't sexually interested in his friend's spouse, but in the Kimball's
willful, 14-year old daughter, Helen. The only way to get sexual
access to the girl was to psychologically break her parents, which is
exactly what Smith did by telling Heber and Vilate that God had
commanded him to relay a message that Vilate was to marry Smith.
God was 'sorely' testing the Kimballs' faith to see if they were truly
'worthy' (so they believed).
Third, the rationale offered for plural marriage was "to raise up seed
unto the Lord." If Joseph Smith did *not* have sex with his
otherwise-married plural wives, he was flouting the very reason for
marrying them.
Fourth, three important evidences indicate that Sylvia Sessions Lyon,
legal wife of Windsor P. Lyon, believed her other husband, Joseph
Smith, to be the father of her daughter Josephine Lyon. 1) Josephine
herself left an affidavit that her mother gave her death-bed testimony
that she (Josephine) was Smith's child. Supporting this testimony,
Sylvia's Nauvoo friend Mary Ettie V. Smith reported in print that
Sylvia had told her she was uncertain whether Windsor Lyon or
Joseph Smith was the father of her child. And, notably, she named
the child *Josephine*, likely in honor of the suspected father.
After agonizing over the decision (the Kimballs' religious heritage
was Protestant), Vilate reluctantly agreed. After much crying and
drama, Smith announced to the Kimballs that, happy day!, they'd
passed their test of faith, and God had recently updated his
'revelation': Vilate would no longer be required to marry Joseph. The
Kimballs were clueless about the terrible psychological shock that lay
in store for them.
Fifth, when Joseph Smith proposed to William Law's wife Jane (a
proposal documented in LDS sources as well), it is quite clear that
the Laws understood this proposal to include a this-worldly
relationship. Law, writing in his journal in April 1844, recorded that
Smith had "lately attempted to seduce my wife and found her a
virtuous woman."
Having broken Helen's parents to the concept of plural wives, gaining
sexual access to her was that much easier, but Smith still had to be
cunning. Instead of speaking with the teenage girl himself about
becoming his wife (Smith, at age 37, was old enough to be Helen's
father), he used her Achilles' Heel: Her love for her family and sense
of devotion to her father. Through Heber, Smith informed Helen that
God had 'revealed' that if she would marry Smith (and their marriage
union would be non-sexual), her family would be guaranteed 'eternal
salvation'. However, God's offer was time-limited; Helen had just 24
hours to respond.
Sixth, one of the men introduced to polyandrous marriage *by*
Joseph Smith appears to have lived with the polyandrous wife. While
Orson Hyde was on a mission to Palestine, Smith married Hyde's
wife Nancy to Willard Richards. Shortly thereafter, Richards was
reported to have been notorious for "Hydeing." And the printer of the
Times and Seasons, Ebenezer Robinson, recalled that when the
Twelve took over the T&S office, Richards took up living there with
Mrs. Hyde. Smith himself performed the marriage between Richards
and Nancy Hyde. And when the marriage dissolved a few months
later, Smith had Nancy sealed to *himself*!
Upon hearing this 'message' from her father about marrying Smith,
Helen became angry. But having been broken himself to the idea of
polygamy, Heber talked with his daughter about how it was a practice
in the Bible (which the girl believed contained God's word). With the
clock ticking, Helen finally relented. Unbeknownst to her as she
participated in the marriage ceremony involving Smith, he would
later take from her that which was most precious, as her diary written
much later in her life indicated.
Given that Smith had "given" Nancy to Richards, Richards'
information on how he should and should not relate to her would
have come from Smith. So, Smith evidently taught Richards that it
was alright (and perhaps expected or required) for him to have sex
with an otherwise married 'wife'! Also, it seems unlikely that
Richards would cohabit with Nancy when she was *his* polyandrous
wife yet Smith would *not*, particularly since Smith was the one
who had instructed Richards...
Did Joseph Smith Have Sex With Other Men's Legal Wives?
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This list of evidences is not exhaustive, but should be sufficient to
convince a reasonable and open-minded person that Joseph Smith
had sex with at least a significant proportion of his polyandrous
wives, if not almost all of them.
In a discussion off this forum, Kimberly Ann noted that while LDS
apologists don't dispute that Joseph Smith *'married'* other men's
wives, they generally do dispute that he had sex with these women.
A Smith Conundrum - Monogamy Gives Way To Polygamy
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This position is virtually indefensible, and demonstrably wrong.
Joseph Smith *did* have sex with women he had himself 'sealed' to
who were legally married to other men.
19
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_S...
Monogamy gives way to polygamy but the scriptures remain the
same.
Patty Bartlett Sessions, the wife of David Sessions, made it clear in
her private journal that she was married to Joseph Smith for both
"time" and "eternity":
"I was sealed to Joseph Smith by Willard Richards Mar 9, 1842, in
Newel K. Whitney's chamber, Nauvoo, for time and all
eternity…Sylvia my daughter was present when I was sealed to
Joseph Smith." (Journal of Patty Sessions, as quoted in Intimate
Disciple, Portrait of Willard Richards, 1957, p. 611)
Polygamy was initially practiced in secret of course and many
women had no idea when their husbands took new wives as Joseph
Smith instructed men not to tell their wives. Certainly with Smith
himself, Emma had no idea about a number of his wives until well
after the event, some not at all. When she did find out she threw
several of them out of the house over the years. (References are many
and well enough known on this).
http://trialsofascension.net/mormon/p...
Plural marriage is also specifically condemned in the Book of
Mormon:
“For behold, thus saith the Lord: this people begin to wax in iniquity;
they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves
in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written
concerning David and Solomon his son. “Behold David and Solomon
truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable
before me, saith the Lord.” Book of Mormon. Jacob 2: 23-24.
Contrast this with The Doctrine and Covenants:
“Verily thus saith the Lord… you have inquired of my hand to know
and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants… David
and Solomon,… as touching the principle and doctrine of having
many wives and concubines - … “David’s wives and concubines
were given unto him of me.” D & C 132: 1 & 39.
In a letter to Morris L Reynolds dated 14 July 1966, LeGrand
Richards said, in reference to the Book of Mormon confirming the
practice “abominable” and the D & C stating “justified” both
referring to the wives of David and both preceded by “Thus saith the
Lord” - “I am afraid I can’t adequately reconcile these two
statements...” “If the one in Doctrine and Covenants 132:1 had
omitted the names of David and Solomon, then I think I could
reconcile the two statements.”
Joseph Smith had at least one child with Sylvia.
"- Stake President Angus Cannon also testified: "I will now refer you
to one case where it was said by the girl's grandmother that your
father [Joseph Smith] has a daughter born of a plural wife. The girl's
grandmother was Mother Sessions . . . She was the grand-daughter of
Mother Sessions. That girl, I believe, is living today, in Bountiful,
north of this city. I heard prest. Young, a short time before his death,
refer to the report . . . The woman is now said to have a family of
children, and I think she is still living." (Stake President Angus M.
Cannon, statement of interview with Joseph III, 25-26, LDS
archives.)
- Faithful Mormon and wife of Joseph Smith, Sylvia Sessions (Lyon),
on her deathbed told her daughter, Josephine, that she (Josephine)
was the daughter of Joseph Smith. Josephine testified: "She (Sylvia)
then told me that I was the daughter of the Prophet Joseph Smith, she
having been sealed to the Prophet at the time that her husband Mr.
Lyon was out of fellowship with the Church." (Affidavit to Church
Historian Andrew Jenson, 24 Feb. 1915)
http://i4m.com/think/history/joseph_s...
Obviously it cannot actually be explained as it is contradicting
doctrine and contradictory words purported to be from God. God
does not lie; Joseph Smith is here evidenced as doing so. It is
absolute evidence that Joseph Smith stated polygamy was
abominable in 1830 before he practiced it and later he had it
magically justified using the same reference when he started to get
involved with women other than Emma. The Church still cannot and
does not answer this conundrum. It is simply ignored as it cannot be
explained.
You will notice here that Joseph Smith married Sylvia Porter
Sessions/Lyon/Smith/Kimball/Clark and impregnated her with
Joseph Rosetta Lyon while she was still married to Windsor Lyon.
After bearing Joseph’s child she bore two more children for Windsor
Lyon.
7. Sylvia Porter Sessions (Lyon) (Smith) (Kimball) (Clark), 1818-82,
married Joseph Smith polyandrously on February 8, 1842, at age
twenty-three, and bore him one child, Josephine Lyon (Fisher), on
February 8, 1844. Sylvia had married Windsor Lyon in 1838 and
stayed with him for eleven years, bearing him four children, all of
whom died as infants. He was excommunicated in Nauvoo in
November 1842, due to a financial/legal conflict with Nauvoo Stake
President William Marks, but was rebaptized in January 1846. Sylvia
married Heber C. Kimball for time, polyandrously, on January 26,
1846, but did not go west with him, staying with Lyon. After Lyon's
death in January 1849, she married a non-Mormon, Ezekiel Clark, in
Iowa on January 1, 1850. She bore him three children (all of whom
survived) but left him and came to Bountiful, Utah, in 1854.
Well… we know the explanation don’t we? But then we got out of
the Matrix and can see.
Joseph Smith's Mother / Daughter Problem
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Parents:David Sessions and Patty Bartlett
Born:July 31, 1818, Newry, Maine
Died:April 12, 1882, Bountiful, Utah
Sylvia Porter Sessions married Joseph Smith on Feb. 8, 1842. She
was the daughter of David Sessions and Patty Bartlett Sessions, who
became Joseph Smith's tenth wife. Patty Bartlett Sessions married
Joseph Smith on Mar. 9, 1842. 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.
Marriage to Joseph Smith:about 1843
Other Marriages:Windsor Palmer Lyon, 1838, Far West, Missouri
Heber Chase Kimball, January 1846, Nauvoo, Illinois
Ezekiel Clark, January 1, 1850, Iowa City, Iowa
20
Children:
1. Marian Lyon, July 30, 1839, Nauvoo, Illinois
2. Philofreen Lyon, June 11, 1841, Nauvoo, Illinois
3. Asa Windsor Lyon, December 25, 1842, Nauvoo, Illinois
4. Josephine Rosetta Lyon, February 8, 1844, Nauvoo, Illinois
5. Byron Windsor Lyon, September 4, 1847, Iowa City, Iowa
6. David Carlos Lyon, August 8, 1848, Iowa City, Iowa
7. Perry Ezekiel Clark, February 8, 1851, Iowa City, Iowa
8. Phebe Jane Clark, September 1, 1852, Iowa City, Iowa
9. Martha Sylvia Clark, January 20, 1854, Iowa City, Iowa
35. 1846 Feb. 3 Mary Ellen de la Montague, 1803-not known (1)
James B. Woodward
36. 1846 Feb. 3 Julia Foster, 1811-91 (1) Jonathan Hampton
(3) Thomas Cole
37. 1846 Feb. 3 Abigail Harback, 1790-1849 (1) Mr. Hall
38. 1846 Feb. 3 Mary Ann Turley, 1827-1904 (2) John Cook
39. 1846 Feb. 6 Naamah Carter, 1821-1909 (1) John S. Twiss
40. 1846 Feb. 6 Nancy Cressy, 1780-1872 (1) Mr. Walker
Married while crossing the plains
41. 1847 Feb. 10 Jane Terry, 1819-47 (1) George Tarbox
(2) George W. Young
42. 1847 March 20 Lucy Bigelow, 1830-1905
43. 1847 March 20 Mary Jane Bigelow, 1827-68 (2) Horace Roberts
(3) Philander Bell
44. 1848 April 18 Sarah Malin, 1804-58
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olymp...
This seemed to start a trend of marrying women who were still
married to other men. Brigham Young followed in Joe’s swinging
footsteps as the following list indicates. The numbered names
following the wives are the wives’ other husbands.
Married in Utah: 1850's
45. 1852 Oct. 3 Eliza Burgess, 1827-1915
46. 1852 Dec. 16 Mary Oldfield, 1793--1875 (1) Eli Kelsey
47. before 1853 Eliza Babcock, 1828-68 (2) Dominucus Carter
(3) John Groves
48. 1855 June 10 Catherine Reese, 1804-60 (1) Zepheniah Clawson
49. 1856 March 14 Harriet Barney, 1830-1911 (1) W.H.H. Sagers
1. 1824 Oct. 8 Miriam Works, 1806-32
2. 1834 Feb. 10 Mary Ann Angel, 1808-82
Married during Joseph Smith's life
3. 1842 June 14 Lucy Ann Decker, 1822-90 (1) William Seeley
4. 1843 Nov. 2 Augusta Adams, 1802-86 (1) Henry Cobb
5. 1843 Nov. 2 Harriet Cook, 1824-98
6. 1844 May 8 Clarissa Decker, 1828-89
Married in Utah: 1860's
50. 1863 Jan, 24 Amelia Folsom, 1838-1910
51. 1865 Jan. 8 Mary Van Cott, 1844-84 (1) James T. Cobb
52. 1868 April 7 Ann Eliza Webb, 1844-not known (1) James L. Dee
(3) Moses R. Deming
53. 1869 July 3 Elizabeth Jones, 1814-95 (1) David T. Lewis
(2) Dan Jones
Married before completion of Nauvoo Temple
7. 1844 Sept. Emily Dow Partridge, 1824-99 (1) Joseph Smith
8. 1844 Sept. 10 Clarissa Ross, 1814-57
9. 1844 Sept. 19 Louisa Beaman, 1815-50 (1) Joseph Smith
10. 1844 Oct. 3 Eliza Roxey Snow, 1804-87 (1) Joseph Smith
11. 1844 Oct. 3 Elizabeth Fairchild, 1828-1910 (2) James D. Lyman
(3) Joseph McMurray
(4) James Matthews
(5) W. L. Chastain
12. 1844 Oct. 8 Clarissa Blake, 1796-not known
13. 1844 Oct. 9 Rebecca Holman, 1824-49
14. 1844 Oct. 10 Diana Chase, 1827-86 (2) William M. Shaw
15. 1844 Oct. 31 Susannah Snively, 1815-92
16. 1844 Nov. 7 Olive Gray Frost, 1816-45
17. 1845 Jan. 15 Mary Ann Clark, 1816-not known (1) Mr. Powers
18. 1845 Jan. 16 Margaret Pierce, 1823-1907 (1) Morris Whitesides
19. 1845 Jan. 16 Mary Pierce, 1821-47
20. 1845 April 30 Emmeline Free, 1826-75
21. 1845 May 22 Mary Elizabeth Rollins, 1818-191 (1) Adam
Lightner
(2) Joseph Smith
Married in Utah: 1870's
54. 1870 May 8 Lydia Farnsworth, 1808-97 (1) Elijah Mayhew
55. 1872 Dec. 8 Hannah Tapfield, 1807-86 (1) Thomas O. King
http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/b...
Using Mormon Church Websites To Show Their Lies
Article Archived: Jan 15, 2008, at 08:17 AM
Stored Under Topic: JOSEPH SMITH - POLYGAMY,
POLYANDRY (click Topic Name for More Articles)
Outside Link To Article: RIGHT CLICK - COPY LINK LOCATION
Original Author Of Article: Struggle_within
Married after completion of Nauvoo Temple
22. 1846 Jan. 14 Margaret Alley, 1825-52
23. 1846 Jan. 15 Olive Andrews, 1818-not known (1) Joseph Smith
24. 1846 Jan. 15 Emily Haws, 1823-not known (1) William
Whitmarsh
25. 1846 Jan. 21 Martha Bowker, 1822-90
26. 1846 Jan. 21 Ellen Rockwood, 1829-66
27. 1846 Jan. 28 Jemima Angel, 1803-69 (1) Valentine Young
28. 1846 Jan. 28 Abigail Marks, 1781-1846 (1) Asa Works
29. 1846 Jan. 28 Phebe Morton, 1776-1854 (1) James W. Angel
30. 1846 Jan. 28 Cynthia Porter, 1783-not known (1) Mr. Weston
31. 1846 Jan. 31 Mary Eliza Nelson, 1812-85 (1) John P. Greene
(3) Bruce 1. Philips
32. 1846 Jan. 31 Rhoda Richards, 1784-1879 (1) Joseph Smith
33. 1846 Feb. 2 Zina Huntington, 1821-1901 (1) Henry Jacobs
34. 1846 Feb. 3 Amy Cecilia Cooper, 1804-not known not known
The LDS website says that Zina Huntngton was married to Brigham
Young after she was widowed by her first husband (total BS). They
never allude to the fact that she was married to Joseph Smith. They
also don't tell you that when both Brigham and Joseph married her
she was still married to and living with Henry Jacobs.
So lets use two church websites to contradict each other and show the
lying and whitewashing of history the Morg does.
The Lie is here: http://www.lds.org/pa/display/0,17884...
The truth is here: http://www.familysearch.org
In the Search Fields type
Zina
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Huntington
Birth/Christening
1821
Exact Year
United States
New York
There you will see a list of husbands showing that she was married to
Henry Jacobs 7 mos before she married Joseph Smith and 5 yrs
before she married Brigham Young. To prove that she wasn't
widowed by Jacobs you only need click on his name to bring up his
records verifying that he died in 1866 much later than the 1846
marriage to Brigham. Lying Bastards.
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