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Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Polyandry
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Joseph Smith and polyandry
Summary: Joseph Smith was sealed to women who were married to men who were still living. Some of these men were even active members of the Church.
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Joseph Smith was sealed to other men's wives
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- Question: Was Joseph Smith married or sealed to women who were already married to other living men?
- The Joseph Smith Papers: "Several later documents suggest that several women who were already married to other men were, like Marinda Hyde, married or sealed to Joseph Smith"
- Improvement Era (1946): "Did Joseph Smith Introduce Plural Marriage?...It is also possible, though the Church does not now permit it, to seal two living people for eternity only, with no association on earth"
- Question: What is "Polyandry?"
- Question: What was the nature of Joseph Smith's "polyandrous" marriages?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith consummate any of these marriages with married women?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith have any children through any of his polyandrous marriages?
- Question: What was the purpose of an eternity-only sealing, which was performed during Joseph Smith's lifetime?
- Question: Since Joseph Smith "married" the wives of 11 other men, why were those women not "destroyed" as specified in the Doctrine and Covenants since they continued to live with their "previous" husbands?
- Brian C. Hales, "Joseph Smith’s Sexual Polyandry and the Emperor’s New Clothes: On Closer Inspection, What Do We Find?"
- Joseph Smith's Polygamy: "Joseph Smith and Polyandry: FAQ", by Brian C. Hales
Joseph's polyandrous marriages
Summary: Nothing in plural marriage mystifies—or troubles—members of the Church more than Joseph's polyandrous sealings. Marriage to multiple wives may seem strange, but at least it intrudes on our historical awareness, while many remain unaware of polyandry's existence in LDS history. But, most critical accounts do not provide all the facts. When we understand what these marriages consisted of—and what they did not consist of—they are much less strange.Was Joseph Smith sealed or married to other men's wives without the knowledge or consent of their husbands?
Summary: It is claimed that Joseph was sealed or married to women who were married to other men without the knowledge or consent of their husbands.
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- Question: What did the husband of Ruth Vose Sayers know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Esther Dutcher know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Mary Elizabeth Rollins know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Presendia L. Huntington know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Sarah Kingsley know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Patty Bartlett know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Elizabeth Davis know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Elvira Annie Cowles know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Marinda Nancy Johnson know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Zina D. Huntington know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Sylvia Sessions know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Sarah Ann Whitney know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Mary Heron know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
What is known about possible children through Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages?
Summary: Is it possible that Joseph Smith fathered children with some of his plural wives, and that he covered up the evidence of pregnancies? Did Joseph Smith have intimate relations with other men’s wives to whom he had been sealed, and did any children result from these unions? DNA testing has so far proven these allegations to be false.
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- Question: Did Joseph Smith father any children through polygamous marriages?
- Question: What did the husband of Sylvia Sessions know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: Did Prescindia Buell (or Sarah Pratt, or Mrs. Hyde) not know who was the father of her son?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith father children by polyandrous plural wife Prescindia Buell?
Did Joseph Smith send men on missions in order to "steal" their wives?
Summary: Beginning with LDS dissident John C. Bennett, some have charged that Joseph would send men on missions in order to marry their wives. Does this claim match the historical evidence?
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- Question: Did Joseph Smith send men on missions in order to "steal" their wives while they were gone?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith send William Law, Robert D. Foster, and Henry Jacobs on missions so that he could steal their wives?
- Question: Was Apostle Orson Hyde sent on a mission to dedicate Israel so that Joseph Smith could secretly marry his wife, Marinda Hyde, while he was away?
Mormon women refusing offers of plural marriage
Summary: Some have claimed that significant pressure was put on women to practice plural marriage in Nauvoo. Did any of these women resist or refuse? What were the consequences of doing so?
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- Question: Did any woman suffer consequences for turning down Joseph's proposal?
- Question: Were women put under "tremendous pressure" to accept a proposal of plural marriage?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith give a woman only one day to decide about entering a plural marriage, and would refusal mean terrible consequences?
- Question: How many Mormon women refused offers of plural marriage?
Divine manifestions to plural wives and families
Summary: Did those who entered into plural marriage do so simply because Joseph Smith (or another Church leader) "told them to"? Is this an example of "blind obedience"? No, they bore witness that only powerful revelatory experiences convinced them that the command was from God.
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- Question: Did those who entered into plural marriage do so simply because Joseph Smith (or another Church leader) "told them to"?
- Question: How did Heber and Vilate Kimball receive a divine manifestation regarding plural marriage?
Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs
Summary: A collection of articles about Zina.
Notes
- ↑ Kathryn M. Daynes, More Wives than One: Transformation of the Mormon Marriage System, 1840–1910 (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2001), 29. ISBN 0252026810.