Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage (Polygamy)

Summary: Joseph Smith is frequently criticized for his introduction and practice of plural marriage (often called polygamy). From a Christian perspective, these attacks usually focus on arguing that polygamy is unchristian or unbiblical, and that Joseph hid the truth from the world. From a secular perspective, it is asserted that the practice of polygamy sprung from Joseph's carnal desires to marry young women. Of particular interest is the fact that Joseph was sealed to women who were already married to other men (polyandry).

Video published by the Church History Department.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Plural wives of Joseph Smith, Jr.
• Implementation of plural marriage
• Doctrinal issues related to plural marriage
• Critics' claimed motivations for Joseph's implementation of plural marriage
• Keeping plural marriage a secret
• Entering into plural marriage
• Polyandry: Women married to more than one husband
• Emma Smith and polygamy
• Children of Joseph Smith by polygamous marriages
• Latter-day Saints and divorce in the nineteenth century

Plural wives of Joseph Smith, Jr.

Summary: This collection of articles lists a number of known plural wives, with responses to critical claims related to specific plural wives of Joseph Smith, Jr.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Fanny Alger
• Louisa Beaman
• Prescindia Lathrop Huntington Buell
• Sarah Kingsley Howe Cleveland
• Agnes Moulton Coolbrith
• Elizabeth Davis Goldsmith Brackenbury Durfee
• Esther Dutcher
• Hannah Ells
• Olive Grey Frost
• Desdemona Catlin Wadsworth Fulmmer
• Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris
• Clarissa Reed Hancock
• Elvira Annie Cowles Holmes
• Sarah Maryetta Kingsley Howe
• Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde
• Vienna Jacques
• Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs
• Almera Johnson
• Helen Mar Kimball
• Maria Lawrence
• Sarah Lawrence
• Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner
• Malissa Lott
• Sylvia Sessions Lyon
• Martha McBride
• Eliza Partridge
• Emily Partridge
• Rhoda Richards
• Ruth Vose Sayers
• Patty Bartlett Sessions
• Delcena Diadamia Johnson Sherman
• "Miss Smith"
• Mary Heron Snider
• Eliza R. Snow
• Lucy Walker
• Sarah Ann Whitney
• Nancy Maria Winchester
• Flora Ann Woodworth
• Fanny Young

Implementation of plural marriage

Jump to Subtopic:

• Initiation of the practice of plural marriage
• The "Cochranites" and their potential influence on Mormon plural marriage
• Lorenzo Snow's statements about polygamy during the Temple Lot case
• William Marks claimed Joseph intended to abandon plural marriage

Initiation of the practice of plural marriage

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: When did Joseph Smith receive the revelation on plural marriage?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith actually teach and practice polygamy?
• Question: When and how did plural marriage begin in the Church?

The "Cochranites" and their potential influence on Mormon plural marriage

Summary: Did another religious group from the 1830s--the "Cochranites"--act as the source for plural marriage in the LDS faith?

Jump to details:

• Question: Did the "Cochranites" influence Joseph Smith or other Mormons to introduce plural marriage into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Lorenzo Snow's statements about polygamy during the Temple Lot case

Jump to details:

• Question: What is Lorenzo Snow claimed to have said about plural marriages being adultery prior to 1843?
• Question: Did Lorenzo Snow state that polygamy was actually adultery prior to 1843?
• Question: Are the original Temple Lot Case transcripts available online?
• Question: I've seen Temple Lot court transcripts online. Are these not accurate?

William Marks claimed Joseph intended to abandon plural marriage

Jump to details:

• Question: Did William Marks claim that Joseph Smith told him that plural marriage had been a mistake and that it would be abandoned?

Doctrinal issues related to plural marriage

Jump to Subtopic:

• The Bible and plural marriage
• Book of Mormon statements about the practice of polygamy
• Early Christians on plural marriage
• 19th century attitudes about plural marriage
• The Law of Adoption: The sealing of men and women as children to prominent Latter-day Saint leaders

Critics' claimed motivations for Joseph's implementation of plural marriage

Jump to Subtopic:

• Did Joseph have "lustful motives" for practicing polygamy?
• Did Joseph Smith send men on missions in order to "steal" their wives?
• Did Joseph Smith practice polygamy for the purpose of monetary gain?

Keeping plural marriage a secret

Jump to Subtopic:

• Joseph Smith hid polygamy from the general Church membership
• Joseph Smith hiding plural marriages from his first wife, Emma
• Joseph Smith's letter to the Whitney family
• Legality of polygamy
• Joseph Smith's Polygamy: "“Thou Shalt not Lie” and Denials of Polygamy: FAQ", by Brian C. Hales

Entering into plural marriage

Jump to Subtopic:

• Joseph Smith's marriages to young women
• Fanny Alger was Joseph Smith's first plural wife
• Did Joseph Smith coerce women to marry him?
• Mormon women refusing offers of plural marriage
• Does Joseph Smith's lack of children through polygamy contradict the commandment to "multiply and replenish the earth"?

Joseph Smith's "polyandrous" sealings or plural marriages?

Jump to details:

• Question: What do we know about Joseph Smith's "polyandrous" sealings or plural marriages?
• The doctrine of sealing and adoption
• Evaluating each polyandrous marriage
• Group 1: Women with non-member spouses
• Observations about the first group
• Group 2: Women with non-faithful LDS spouses
• Observations about the second group
• Group 3: Women with faithful LDS spouses
• Observations about the third group
• Group 4: Women likely separated/divorced from their first husbands (i.e., pseudopolyandry)
• A hypothesis—why so many early polyandrous marriages?
• Further evidence against sexual polyandry
• Nauvoo witnesses did not try to justify sexual polyandry
• Nauvoo detractors likewise say nothing about sexual polyandry
• Evidence from the "Temple Lot" case of non-consummation of polyandrous marriages
• Would polyandrous testimony have been harmful to the Church, and so avoided?
• Conclusion

See also: Did Joseph Smith send men on missions in order to steal their wives?

Emma Smith and polygamy

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: How did Emma Hale Smith react to Joseph's practice of plural marriage?
• Question: Did Joseph hide his plural marriages from Emma, his first wife?
• Question: Under what circumstances was Doctrine and Covenants Section 132 committed to writing?
• Question: Was a pregnant Eliza R. Snow pushed down the stairs by a furious Emma, resulting in a miscarriage?

Joseph Smith and children through plural marriage

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Can you summarize what we know about whether or not Joseph Smith fathered any children by his plural wives?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith father any children through polygamous marriages?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith produce any children by his plural wives?: The case for children
• Question: Did Joseph Smith produce any children by his plural wives? The case against children
• 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?
• Question: What is the current state of the evidence for proving or disproving that Joseph Smith had children by his plural wives?
• Question: Was the only purpose of polygamy to "multiply and replenish the earth" and "bear the souls of men"?
• Question: If the only purpose of polygamy was to "raise up seed," then why did Joseph not have children by his plural wives?

Latter-day Saints and divorce in the nineteenth century

Jump to Subtopic:

• Divorce among Mormons in the 19th century
• Joseph Smith's performance of marriages in Ohio