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|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
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|claim=Joseph Smith married up to 65 women from a growing group of people that intensely admired him and that he held great influence over. For unspecified reasons his polygamy is never addressed in the Church education system. | |claim=Joseph Smith married up to 65 women from a growing group of people that intensely admired him and that he held great influence over. For unspecified reasons his polygamy is never addressed in the Church education system. | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | {{misinformation| | + | {{misinformation||L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 |
+ | }} | ||
+ | Consensus among historians is generally around 35 wives give or take 2-5. How the author learned 65 is beyond imagination. Regarding the Church education system, there is an entire lesson on it in the 2015 ''Foundations of the Restoration Teacher Manual" used in the Institute: | ||
<blockquote> | <blockquote> | ||
Lesson 20: Plural Marriage<br> | Lesson 20: Plural Marriage<br> | ||
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The first plural marriage in Nauvoo took place when Louisa Beaman and Joseph Smith were sealed in April 1841.19 Joseph married many additional wives and authorized other Latter-day Saints to practice plural marriage. | The first plural marriage in Nauvoo took place when Louisa Beaman and Joseph Smith were sealed in April 1841.19 Joseph married many additional wives and authorized other Latter-day Saints to practice plural marriage. | ||
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
− | }} | + | |
+ | Additional resources may be found by searching for them on lds.org. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{:Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Plural wives}} | ||
==Response to claim: "In 1833 Fanny Alger became Joseph’s first marriage after Emma – ten years before the official revelation"== | ==Response to claim: "In 1833 Fanny Alger became Joseph’s first marriage after Emma – ten years before the official revelation"== | ||
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#Ann Eliza Webb, Wife No. 19, 1875 | #Ann Eliza Webb, Wife No. 19, 1875 | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | {{information}} | + | {{information |
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=Question: What do we know about Joseph Smith's first plural wife Fanny Alger? | ||
+ | |L2=Question: Did Joseph Smith marry Fanny Alger as his first plural wife in 1833? | ||
+ | |L3=Question: How could Joseph and Fanny have been married in 1831 if the sealing power had not yet been restored? | ||
+ | }} | ||
{{:Question: What do we know about Joseph Smith's first plural wife Fanny Alger?}} | {{:Question: What do we know about Joseph Smith's first plural wife Fanny Alger?}} | ||
{{:Question: Did Joseph Smith marry Fanny Alger as his first plural wife in 1833?}} | {{:Question: Did Joseph Smith marry Fanny Alger as his first plural wife in 1833?}} | ||
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</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | {{information}} | + | {{information |
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=Question: Did some of Joseph Smith's associates believe that Joseph Smith had an affair with Fanny Alger? | ||
+ | }} | ||
{{:Question: Did some of Joseph Smith's associates believe that Joseph Smith had an affair with Fanny Alger?}} | {{:Question: Did some of Joseph Smith's associates believe that Joseph Smith had an affair with Fanny Alger?}} | ||
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}} | }} | ||
{{misinformation|The letter was written to Sarah's ''parents'', not Sarah. | {{misinformation|The letter was written to Sarah's ''parents'', not Sarah. | ||
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=Question: Did Joseph Smith write a "love letter" to his plural wife Sarah Ann Whitney to request a secret rendezvous? | ||
+ | |L2=Question: How do critics of the Church portray Joseph Smith's letter to the Whitney family as a "love letter"? | ||
+ | |L3=Question: What was the real purpose of the letter written by Joseph Smith to the parents of Sarah Ann Whitney? | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{:Question: Did Joseph Smith write a "love letter" to his plural wife Sarah Ann Whitney to request a secret rendezvous?}} | {{:Question: Did Joseph Smith write a "love letter" to his plural wife Sarah Ann Whitney to request a secret rendezvous?}} | ||
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|claim=On April 6, 1840, Orson was sent on a 3 year mission to Jerusalem. Shortly after his departure, Joseph married his wife Nancy Marinda Johnson-Hyde while Orson was gone. In Joseph Smith’s journal, in a list of marriages he wrote “Apr 42 Marinda Johnson to Joseph Smith.” In 1858 Orson and Marinda separated. | |claim=On April 6, 1840, Orson was sent on a 3 year mission to Jerusalem. Shortly after his departure, Joseph married his wife Nancy Marinda Johnson-Hyde while Orson was gone. In Joseph Smith’s journal, in a list of marriages he wrote “Apr 42 Marinda Johnson to Joseph Smith.” In 1858 Orson and Marinda separated. | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | {{misinformation|The sealing did not occur "short after his departure." Orson had been gone at least one year prior to the sealing. The Hydes divorced in 1870: "The precise reasons for the divorce are not known, but it appears that Orson was giving most of his attention to his younger wives at this time." <ref>{{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=230–243}}</ref> However, Marinda was sealed to Orson following Joseph's death. <ref>{{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=240–242}}</ref> | + | {{misinformation|The sealing did not occur "short after his departure." Orson had been gone at least one year prior to the sealing. The Hydes divorced in 1870: "The precise reasons for the divorce are not known, but it appears that Orson was giving most of his attention to his younger wives at this time." <ref>{{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=230–243}}</ref> However, Marinda was sealed to Orson following Joseph's death.<ref>{{Book:Compton:ISL/Short|pages=240–242}}</ref> |
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=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? | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{: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?}} | {{: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?}} | ||
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#Brian C. Hales, Encouraging Joseph Smith to Practice Plural Marriage: The Accounts of the Angel with a Drawn Sword, Mormon Historical Studies 11, no. 2 (Fall 2010): 69–70 | #Brian C. Hales, Encouraging Joseph Smith to Practice Plural Marriage: The Accounts of the Angel with a Drawn Sword, Mormon Historical Studies 11, no. 2 (Fall 2010): 69–70 | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | {{information|Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs was sealed to Joseph Smith while she was already carrying the child of her husband Henry Jacobs at the time. At that time, it was possible to be married for time to one person and sealed for eternity to another.}} | + | {{information|Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs was sealed to Joseph Smith while she was already carrying the child of her husband Henry Jacobs at the time. At that time, it was possible to be married for time to one person and sealed for eternity to another. |
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=Question: Why would Joseph be sealed to the wife of someone who was not only married to someone else, but pregnant with her husband's child? | ||
+ | |L2=Question: Did Joseph Smith and Brigham Young steal Henry Jacobs' family? | ||
+ | |L3=Question: What did the husband of Zina D. Huntington know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity? | ||
+ | }} | ||
{{:Question: Why would Joseph be sealed to the wife of someone who was not only married to someone else, but pregnant with her husband's child?}} | {{:Question: Why would Joseph be sealed to the wife of someone who was not only married to someone else, but pregnant with her husband's child?}} | ||
{{:Question: Did Joseph Smith and Brigham Young steal Henry Jacobs' family?}} | {{:Question: Did Joseph Smith and Brigham Young steal Henry Jacobs' family?}} | ||
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}} | }} | ||
{{propaganda|William Hall reported that Brigham told Henry Jacobs "in the hearing of hundreds" that he needed to "find another wife" and Zina was Brigham's "property." The immediate problem with such a statement is that there is no contemporary corroboration for it in the journals of any of the "hundreds" who supposedly observed it. There is no doubt that Brigham married Zina after Joseph's death, and that they even had a child together, but there is apparently much to the story of her relationship with Henry Jacobs that is not known. | {{propaganda|William Hall reported that Brigham told Henry Jacobs "in the hearing of hundreds" that he needed to "find another wife" and Zina was Brigham's "property." The immediate problem with such a statement is that there is no contemporary corroboration for it in the journals of any of the "hundreds" who supposedly observed it. There is no doubt that Brigham married Zina after Joseph's death, and that they even had a child together, but there is apparently much to the story of her relationship with Henry Jacobs that is not known. | ||
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=Question: Did Brigham Young tell Henry Jacobs in front of hundreds of people that he needed to find another wife? | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{:Question: Did Brigham Young tell Henry Jacobs in front of hundreds of people that he needed to find another wife?}} | {{:Question: Did Brigham Young tell Henry Jacobs in front of hundreds of people that he needed to find another wife?}} | ||
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#Heber C. Kimball, Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer by Stanley B. Kimball, p.93 | #Heber C. Kimball, Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer by Stanley B. Kimball, p.93 | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | {{information}} | + | {{information |
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=Question: How did Heber and Vilate Kimball receive a divine manifestation regarding plural marriage? | ||
+ | }} | ||
{{:Question: How did Heber and Vilate Kimball receive a divine manifestation regarding plural marriage?}} | {{:Question: How did Heber and Vilate Kimball receive a divine manifestation regarding plural marriage?}} | ||
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}} | }} | ||
{{information|Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages to young women may seem difficult to understand or explain today, but in his own time such age differences were not typically an obstacle to marriage. | {{information|Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages to young women may seem difficult to understand or explain today, but in his own time such age differences were not typically an obstacle to marriage. | ||
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=Question: Why was Joseph Smith sealed to young women? | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{:Question: Why was Joseph Smith sealed to young women?}} | {{:Question: Why was Joseph Smith sealed to young women?}} | ||
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}} | }} | ||
{{misinformation|The marriages to 14-year-old Helen Mar Kimball and Nancy Winchester were sealings, and not marriages in the traditional sense. There is very little evidence for the sealing of Nancy to Joseph Smith, and there is absolutely no evidence of any sexual relations between the two, just as there is no evidence of sexual relations with Helen (she continued to live with her parents). | {{misinformation|The marriages to 14-year-old Helen Mar Kimball and Nancy Winchester were sealings, and not marriages in the traditional sense. There is very little evidence for the sealing of Nancy to Joseph Smith, and there is absolutely no evidence of any sexual relations between the two, just as there is no evidence of sexual relations with Helen (she continued to live with her parents). | ||
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=Question: Was Joseph Smith a "serial practitioner of statutory rape?" | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{:Question: Was Joseph Smith a "serial practitioner of statutory rape?"}} | {{:Question: Was Joseph Smith a "serial practitioner of statutory rape?"}} | ||
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}} | }} | ||
{{misinformation|The only evidence that Joseph "asked Williams' wife, Jane, to be sealed to him" comes from Ann Eliza Young's sensationalist work "Wife No. 19". We do not know whether or not such an offer was made. However, William Law did strongly disagree with the practice of plural marriage. He also had quarrels with Joseph over the sale of land that Law owned in Nauvoo. | {{misinformation|The only evidence that Joseph "asked Williams' wife, Jane, to be sealed to him" comes from Ann Eliza Young's sensationalist work "Wife No. 19". We do not know whether or not such an offer was made. However, William Law did strongly disagree with the practice of plural marriage. He also had quarrels with Joseph over the sale of land that Law owned in Nauvoo. | ||
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=Question: What caused William Law to apostatize from the Church and turn against Joseph Smith? | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{:Question: What caused William Law to apostatize from the Church and turn against Joseph Smith?}} | {{:Question: What caused William Law to apostatize from the Church and turn against Joseph Smith?}} | ||
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#Dallin H. Oaks, Carthage Conspiracy, p.15-16 | #Dallin H. Oaks, Carthage Conspiracy, p.15-16 | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | {{information}} | + | {{information |
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=Question: Did Joseph Smith or his associates attempt to reconcile with William Law before he published the ''Nauvoo Expositor''? | ||
+ | |L2=Question: How was the decision reached to destroy the ''Nauvoo Expositor''? | ||
+ | |L3=Question: Why did the Nauvoo City Council feel it was necessary to destroy the ''Nauvoo Expositor''? | ||
+ | }} | ||
{{:Question: Did Joseph Smith or his associates attempt to reconcile with William Law before he published the ''Nauvoo Expositor''?}} | {{:Question: Did Joseph Smith or his associates attempt to reconcile with William Law before he published the ''Nauvoo Expositor''?}} | ||
{{:Question: How was the decision reached to destroy the ''Nauvoo Expositor''?}} | {{:Question: How was the decision reached to destroy the ''Nauvoo Expositor''?}} | ||
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{{propaganda|The author makes it sound as if they torched the printing office (much in the same way a mob torched the Church printing office in Independence, Missouri). This was not the case. ''History of the Church'' states: | {{propaganda|The author makes it sound as if they torched the printing office (much in the same way a mob torched the Church printing office in Independence, Missouri). This was not the case. ''History of the Church'' states: | ||
<blockquote> | <blockquote> | ||
− | About 8 P.M., the Marshal returned and reported that he had removed the press, type, printed paper, and fixtures into the street, and destroyed them. This was done because of the libelous and slanderous character of the paper, its avowed intention being to destroy the municipality and drive the Saints from the city. <ref>[https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/volume-6-chapter-21 ''History of the Church'' Vol. 6, Chapter 21, Page 432.]</ref> | + | About 8 P.M., the Marshal returned and reported that he had removed the press, type, printed paper, and fixtures into the street, and destroyed them. This was done because of the libelous and slanderous character of the paper, its avowed intention being to destroy the municipality and drive the Saints from the city.<ref>[https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/volume-6-chapter-21 ''History of the Church'' Vol. 6, Chapter 21, Page 432.]</ref> |
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
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Accordingly, a company consisting of some 200 men, armed and equipped, with Muskets, Swords, Pistols, Bowie Knives, Sledge-Hammers, &c, assisted by a crowd of several hundred minions, who volunteered their services on the occasion, marching to the building, and breaking open the doors with a Sledge Hammer, commenced the work of destruction and desperation. | Accordingly, a company consisting of some 200 men, armed and equipped, with Muskets, Swords, Pistols, Bowie Knives, Sledge-Hammers, &c, assisted by a crowd of several hundred minions, who volunteered their services on the occasion, marching to the building, and breaking open the doors with a Sledge Hammer, commenced the work of destruction and desperation. | ||
− | They tumbled the press and materials into the street, and set fire to them, and demolished the machinery with sledge hammer, and injured the building very materially. We made no resistance; but looked on and felt revenge, but leave it for the public to avenge this climax of insult and injury. <ref>[http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/il/sign1844.htm#0611 "The Time Has Come!,"] ''Warsaw Signal'' (11 June 1844)</ref> | + | They tumbled the press and materials into the street, and set fire to them, and demolished the machinery with sledge hammer, and injured the building very materially. We made no resistance; but looked on and felt revenge, but leave it for the public to avenge this climax of insult and injury.<ref>[http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/il/sign1844.htm#0611 "The Time Has Come!,"] ''Warsaw Signal'' (11 June 1844)</ref> |
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
− | + | Foster's own statement indicates that the printing materials were set afire in the street, and the building itself was damaged. It does not appear that the building was "burned to the ground." | |
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
}} | }} | ||
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}} | }} | ||
{{misinformation|The destruction of the Expositor issue (i.e., the paper itself) was legal; it was not legal to have destroyed the type, but this was a civil matter, not a criminal one, and one for which Joseph was willing to pay a fine if imposed. | {{misinformation|The destruction of the Expositor issue (i.e., the paper itself) was legal; it was not legal to have destroyed the type, but this was a civil matter, not a criminal one, and one for which Joseph was willing to pay a fine if imposed. | ||
+ | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife)/Chapter 7 | ||
+ | |L1=Question: Was the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' legal? | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{:Question: Was the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' legal?}} | {{:Question: Was the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' legal?}} | ||
{{endnotes sources}} | {{endnotes sources}} |
Latest revision as of 14:19, 13 April 2024
Response to "For my Wife and Children" ("Letter to my Wife"): Chapter 7 - Polygamy
Chapter 6 - The Endowment | A FAIR Analysis of: For my Wife and Children (Letter to my Wife), a work by author: Anonymous
|
Chapter 8 - Blacks and the Church |
Response to claims made in "For my Wife and Children" ("Letter to my Wife"): Chapter 7 - Polygamy
Jump to details:
- Response to claim: "Joseph Smith married up to 65 women...For unspecified reasons his polygamy is never addressed in the Church education system"
- Response to claim: "In 1833 Fanny Alger became Joseph’s first marriage after Emma – ten years before the official revelation"
- Response to claim: "Oliver Cowdery also addresses this situation when he notes his extreme displeasure with Joseph’s conduct with Fanny Alger while married to Emma"
- Response to claim: "Letter from Joseph Smith to Sarah Ann Whitney...the only thing to be careful of; is to find out when Emma comes then you cannot be safe"
- Response to claim: "On April 6, 1840, Orson was sent on a 3 year mission to Jerusalem. Shortly after his departure, Joseph married his wife Nancy Marinda Johnson-Hyde while Orson was gone"
- Response to claim: Joseph Smith told Zina Diantha Huntington-Jacobs, who was married to Henry Jacobs at the time, "that the Lord had made it known to him she was to be his celestial wife"
- Response to claim: "Brigham Young also took Zina for his wife while she was still married to Henry Jacobs"
- Response to claim: "Joseph Smith "demanded for himself what to Heber was the unthinkable, his Vilate"
- Response to claim: "Seven of Joseph’s wives were teenagers while he was in his late 30’s"
- Response to claim: "Elder Law was excommunicated for disagreeing with Joseph’s actions. This disagreement came after finding out that Joseph asked William’s wife, Jane, to be sealed to him"
- Response to claim: "William Law then started a newspaper called the Nauvoo Expositor" and Joseph Smith "issued an order to destroy the printing press"
- Response to claim: "At 8pm that night the Nauvoo militia burned the Nauvoo Expositor to the ground"
- Response to claim: "Nothing is ever said of actual crimes committed by Joseph and his followers. Joseph’s increasingly public acts of illegal polygamy, combined with the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor"
Response to claim: "Joseph Smith married up to 65 women...For unspecified reasons his polygamy is never addressed in the Church education system"
The author(s) of "For my Wife and Children" ("Letter to my Wife") make(s) the following claim:
Joseph Smith married up to 65 women from a growing group of people that intensely admired him and that he held great influence over. For unspecified reasons his polygamy is never addressed in the Church education system.
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: The author has stated erroneous information or misinterpreted their sources
Consensus among historians is generally around 35 wives give or take 2-5. How the author learned 65 is beyond imagination. Regarding the Church education system, there is an entire lesson on it in the 2015 Foundations of the Restoration Teacher Manual" used in the Institute:
Lesson 20: Plural Marriage
Introduction
Marriage between one man and one woman is the Lord’s law unless He commands otherwise (see Jacob 2:27–30). The Prophet Joseph Smith was commanded to restore the practice of plural marriage, which was practiced in the Church for over half a century until President Wilford Woodruff was inspired by the Lord to discontinue the practice. Plural marriage was a significant test of faith for Joseph Smith and most who practiced it. As students exercise faith, they can come to know that the practice of plural marriage in the latter days was part of the Restoration of all things. Read the rest here.[1]
And, of course, the Gospel Topics Essay "Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo":
The first plural marriage in Nauvoo took place when Louisa Beaman and Joseph Smith were sealed in April 1841.19 Joseph married many additional wives and authorized other Latter-day Saints to practice plural marriage.
Additional resources may be found by searching for them on lds.org.
Life and Character |
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Youth |
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Revelations and the Church |
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Prophetic Statements |
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Society |
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Plural marriage (polygamy) |
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Death |
To learn more about any of the known or suspected plural wives of Joseph Smith, click the links below
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Notes
- ↑ Foundations of the Restoration Teacher Manual, 2015 on lds.org
Response to claim: "In 1833 Fanny Alger became Joseph’s first marriage after Emma – ten years before the official revelation"
The author(s) of "For my Wife and Children" ("Letter to my Wife") make(s) the following claim:
In 1833 Fanny Alger became Joseph’s first marriage after Emma – ten years before the official revelation.Author's sources:
- Doctrine and Covenants, (Heading) Section 132
- Ann Eliza Webb, Wife No. 19, 1875
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim is based upon correct information - The author is providing knowledge concerning some particular fact, subject, or event
Jump to Detail:
- Question: What do we know about Joseph Smith's first plural wife Fanny Alger?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith marry Fanny Alger as his first plural wife in 1833?
- Question: How could Joseph and Fanny have been married in 1831 if the sealing power had not yet been restored?
What do we know about Joseph Smith's first plural wife Fanny Alger?
There are no first-hand accounts of the relationship between Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger
One of the wives about whom we know relatively little is Fanny Alger, Joseph's first plural wife, whom he came to know in early 1833 when she stayed at the Smith home as a house-assistant of sorts to Emma (such work was common for young women at the time). There are no first-hand accounts of their relationship (from Joseph or Fanny), nor are there second-hand accounts (from Emma or Fanny's family). All that we do have is third hand (and mostly hostile) accounts, most of them recorded many years after the events.
Unfortunately, this lack of reliable and extensive historical detail leaves much room for critics to claim that Joseph Smith had an affair with Fanny and then later invented plural marriage as way to justify his actions which, again, rests on dubious historical grounds. The problem is we don't know the details of the relationship or exactly of what it consisted, and so are left to assume that Joseph acted honorably (as believers) or dishonorably (as critics).
There is some historical evidence that Joseph Smith knew as early as 1831 that plural marriage would be restored, so it is perfectly legitimate to argue that Joseph's relationship with Fanny Alger was such a case. Mosiah Hancock (a Mormon) reported a wedding ceremony; and apostate Mormons Ann Eliza Webb Young and her father Chauncery both referred to Fanny's relationship as a "sealing." Ann Eliza also reported that Fanny's family was very proud of Fanny's relationship with Joseph, which makes little sense if it was simply a tawdry affair. Those closest to them saw the marriage as exactly that—a marriage.
Did Joseph Smith marry Fanny Alger as his first plural wife in 1833?
Joseph Smith met Fanny Alger in 1833 when she was a house-assistant to Emma
Joseph Smith came to know Fanny Alger in early 1833 when she stayed at the Smith home as a house-assistant to Emma. Neither Joseph nor Fanny ever left any first-hand accounts of their relationship. There are no second-hand accounts from Emma or Fanny's family. All that we do have is third hand accounts from people who did not directly observe the events associated with this first plural marriage, and most of them recorded many years after the events.
Joseph said that the "ancient order of plural marriage" was to again be practiced at the time that Fanny was living with his family
Benjamin F. Johnson stated that in 1835 he had "learned from my sister’s husband, Lyman R. Sherman, who was close to the Prophet, and received it from him, 'that the ancient order of Plural Marriage was again to be practiced by the Church.' This, at the time did not impress my mind deeply, although there lived then with his family (the Prophet’s) a neighbor’s daughter, Fannie Alger, a very nice and comely young woman about my own age, toward whom not only myself, but every one, seemed partial, for the amiability for her character; and it was whispered even then that Joseph loved her."[1]
Joseph asked the brother-in-law of Fanny's father to make the request of Fanny's father, after which a marriage ceremony was performed
Mosiah Hancock discusses the manner in which the proposal was extended to Fanny, and states that a marriage ceremony was performed. Joseph asked Levi Hancock, the brother-in-law of Samuel Alger, Fanny’s father, to request Fanny as his plural wife:
Samuel, the Prophet Joseph loves your daughter Fanny and wishes her for a wife. What say you?" Uncle Sam says, "Go and talk to the old woman [Fanny’s mother] about it. Twill be as she says." Father goes to his sister and said, "Clarissy, Brother Joseph the Prophet of the most high God loves Fanny and wishes her for a wife. What say you?" Said she, "Go and talk to Fanny. It will be all right with me." Father goes to Fanny and said, "Fanny, Brother Joseph the Prophet loves you and wishes you for a wife. Will you be his wife?" "I will Levi," said she. Father takes Fanny to Joseph and said, "Brother Joseph I have been successful in my mission." Father gave her to Joseph, repeating the ceremony as Joseph repeated to him.[2]
How could Joseph and Fanny have been married in 1831 if the sealing power had not yet been restored?
There is historical evidence that Joseph Smith knew as early as 1831 that plural marriage would be restored
There is historical evidence that Joseph Smith knew as early as 1831 that plural marriage would be restored. Mosiah Hancock (a Mormon) reported a wedding ceremony in Kirtland, Ohio in 1833.
Apostate Mormons Ann Eliza Webb Young and her father Chauncery both referred to Fanny's relationship as a "sealing." Ann Eliza also reported that Fanny's family was very proud of Fanny's relationship with Joseph, which makes little sense if it was simply a tawdry affair. Those closest to them saw the marriage as exactly that—a marriage.
Joseph and Fanny's marriage was a plural marriage, not an eternal marriage
Some have wondered how the first plural marriages (such as the Alger marriage) could have occurred before the 1836 restoration of the sealing keys in the Kirtland temple (see D&C 110). This confusion occurs because we tend to conflate several ideas. They were not all initially wrapped together in one doctrine:
- plural marriage - the idea that one could be married (in mortality) to more than one woman: being taught by 1831.
- eternal marriage - the idea that a man and spouse could be sealed and remain together beyond the grave: being taught by 1835.
- "celestial" marriage - the combination of the above two ideas, in which all marriages—plural and monogamous—could last beyond the grave via the sealing powers: implemented by 1840-41.
Thus, the marriage to Fanny would have occurred under the understanding #1 above. The concept of sealing beyond the grave came later. Therefore, the marriage of Joseph and Fanny would have been a plural marriage, but it would not have been a marriage for eternity.
Perhaps it is worth mentioning that priesthood power already gave the ability to ratify certain ordinances as binding on heaven and earth (D&C 1:8), that the sealing power was given mention in earlier revelations such as Helaman 10:7, and that the coming of Elijah and his turning of the hearts of children and fathers was prophesied in 3 Nephi 25:5-6. This supports the view that it is unlikely that Joseph was just making up the sealing power and priesthood power extemporaneously to justify getting married to Fanny and having sexual relations with her.
Did some of Joseph Smith's associates believe that he had an affair with Fanny Alger?
Oliver Cowdery perceived the relationship between Joseph and Fanny as a "dirty, nasty, filthy affair"
Some of Joseph's associates, most notably Oliver Cowdery, perceived Joseph's association with Fanny as an affair rather than a plural marriage. Oliver, in a letter to his brother Warren, asserted that "in every instance I did not fail to affirm that which I had said was strictly true. A dirty, nasty, filthy affair of his and Fanny Alger's was talked over in which I strictly declared that I had never deserted from the truth in the matter, and as I supposed was admitted by himself."[3]
Gary J. Bergera, an advocate of the "affair" theory, wrote:
I do not believe that Fanny Alger, whom [Todd] Compton counts as Smith’s first plural wife, satisfies the criteria to be considered a "wife." Briefly, the sources for such a "marriage" are all retrospective and presented from a point of view favoring plural marriage, rather than, say, an extramarital liaison…Smith’s doctrine of eternal marriage was not formulated until after 1839–40. [4]
There are several problems with this analysis. While it is true that sources on Fanny are all retrospective, the same is true of many early plural marriages. Fanny's marriage has more evidence than some. Bergera says that all the sources about Fanny's marriage come "from a point of view favoring plural marriage," but this claim is clearly false.
Even hostile accounts of the relationship between Joseph and Fanny report a marriage or sealing
For example, Fanny's marriage was mentioned by Ann Eliza Webb Young, a later wife of Brigham Young's who divorced him, published an anti-Mormon book, and spent much of her time giving anti-Mormon, anti-polygamy lectures. Fanny stayed with Ann Eliza's family after leaving Joseph and Emma's house, and both Ann Eliza and her father Chauncey Webb [5] refer to Joseph's relationship to Fanny as a "sealing." [6] Eliza also noted that the Alger family "considered it the highest honor to have their daughter adopted into the prophet's family, and her mother has always claimed that she [Fanny] was sealed to Joseph at that time." [7] This would be a strange attitude to take if their relationship was a mere affair. And, the hostile Webbs had no reason to invent a "sealing" idea if they could have made Fanny into a mere case of adultery.
It seems clear, then, that Joseph, Fanny's family, Levi Hancock, and even hostile witnesses saw their relationship as a marriage, albeit an unorthodox one. The witness of Chauncey Webb and Ann Eliza Webb Young make it untenable to claim that only a later Mormon whitewash turned an affair into a marriage.