12. Joseph’s Plural Marriages Included Sex
September 23, 20249. Joseph Married Other Living Men’s Wives
September 25, 2024
Joseph married other living men’s wives without the knowledge or consent of the husband.
Table of contents
- Joseph married other living men’s wives without the knowledge or consent of the husband.
- A1) There is evidence of Joseph marrying wives without the consent or knowledge of their husbands.
- A2) There are other claims of Joseph proposing unsuccessfully to marry wives without the consent of the husband.
- Issues these Facts Raise
A1) There is evidence of Joseph marrying wives without the consent or knowledge of their husbands.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
In a letter from Daniel H. Wells to Joseph F. Smith dated June 25, 1888, Apostle Wells speaks of Albert Smith whose wife Esther Dutcher had died in 1856: “He [Albert Smith was] also much afflicted with the loss of his first wife. It seems that she was sealed to Joseph the Prophet in the days of Nauvoo, though she still remained his wife, and afterwards nearly broke his heart by telling him of it, and expressing her intention of adhering to that relationship. He however got to feeling better over it, and acting for Joseph, had her sealed to him, and to himself for time.”
- Daniel H. Wells, Letter to Joseph F. Smith, June 25, 1888. Online Source: http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/esther-dutcher/
In January [1842] … Brother Joseph and Brother Brigham came to see me and invited me to go the next day to his office in the Brick Store. I was surprised at this. He asked me if I was afraid to go? I replied, “Why should I be afraid of a Prophet of God?” He said Brother Young would come for me.
That night I dreamed I was married to him and occupied an upper room in a new house. In the morning, we were called to breakfast. And I wondered what Emma would say to me for I was afraid of her, but Joseph took me by the hand and led me down stairs, at the foot of which, stood Emma smiling at us and conducted us to the breakfast room.
I awoke then and did not know what to think of my dream. But on going to the office [the] next day, I received the interpretation for what to my astonishment, when Joseph made known to me that God had commanded him in July, 1834, to take me for a wife. But he had not dared to make it known to me, for when he received the revelation, I was in Missouri and when he did see me, I was married. But he was again commanded to fulfill the first revelation or suffer condemnation, for I was created for him before the foundation of the earth was laid.
I said if the Lord told you such a thing, why doesn’t He come and tell me? Furthermore, I never would consent to be sealed to him, unless I had a witness for myself. He told me a great many thing concerning the order and the blessings pertaining to it etc. I felt that he and I were both wrong for I had dreamed for years that I belonged to him; and had besought the Lord to take away such thoughts from my heart. No human being can tell my feeling on this occasion. My faith in him, as a Prophet about failed me. I could not sleep, and scarcely eat.
Next day, Brother Young came to see me, and said after we left the office, Joseph told him that an angel appeared to him, and told him that the Lord was well pleased with him and that I should have a witness that what he told me was true. I marveled at this, but made it a subject of prayer, night and day. One night in February I felt impressed to pray as Moses did in the battle of Israel with the Amalekites, by holding up my hands towards heaven. I also covered my head with a white cloth and I prayed with all my soul, that if the doctrine was true, to give me a witness of the same.
One night I retired to bed, but not to sleep, for my mind was troubled so sleep fled from me. My Aunt Gilbert was sleeping with me at the time when a great light appeared in the room. Thinking the kindling wood was on fire, that was spread on the hearth, I rose up in bed to look. When lo, a personage stood in front of the bed looking at me. Its clothes were whiter than anything I had ever seen. I could look at its person, but when I saw its face so bright and more beautiful than any earthly being could be, and those eyes piercing me through and through, I could not endure it. It seemed as if I must die with fear. I fell back in bed and covered up my head so as not to see it. I pushed Aunt very hard to have her look up and see it too. But I could not wake her and I could not speak. I thought if she were awake, I would not feel so afraid. As it is, I can never forget that face. It seems to be ever before me.
A few days after this Joseph asked me if I had received a witness yet. I said no. He said you soon will have, for the angel expressly told me you should have. Then I told him what I had seen, for I fully realized what I had lost by my cowardice. The family all said they knew something had happened to me, for my countenance was almost transparent. And when I told them of it, there was great rejoicing and they felt that I had been highly favored of the Lord. As yet they knew nothing of what Joseph had said to me.
When Joseph had enquired about the appearance of the person, and I had told him, he seemed much affected and told me that it was an angel from God and that it came for aught with more knowledge and revelation, than he dare reveal at that time. And that if I had prayed in my heart to God, all fear would have left me. As it was, Satan snatched the cup from my lips. He told me of many things to take place soon in my life. As a sign of the truth of what he had revealed to me, his words were verified to the letter.
After receiving other testimonies, I felt I could no longer disbelieve and in the month of March, [1842], Brigham Young sealed us for time and all eternity. Willard Richards and Heber C. Kimball knew of it, but were not present on the 23rd of March.
- Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, “Mary Elizabeth Rollins,” copy of holograph in Susa Young Gates Papers, USHS box 14, fd 4. A major portion of this holograph has been published as The Life and Testimony of Mary Lightner, n.p, n.d., but the section quoted above was edited out and would have been included on page 24. Online Source: http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/mary-elizabeth-rollins/#link_ajs-fn-id_2-5682
Be it remembered that on this first day of May A.D. 1869 personally appeared before me Elias Smith Probate Judge for Said County Presenda Lathrop Huntington Kimball/ who was by me Sworn in due form of law and upon her oath saith, that on the eleventh day of December A.D. 1841, at the City of Nauvoo, County of Hancock State of Illinois, She was married or Sealed to Joseph Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by Dimick B. Huntington, a High-Priest in Said Church, according to the laws of the Same regulating Marriage; in the presence of Fanny Maria Huntington.
- Joseph F. Smith affidavit books, CHL 1:7. Online Source: http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/presendia-lathrop-huntington/#link_ajs-fn-id_1-5670
A2) There are other claims of Joseph proposing unsuccessfully to marry wives without the consent of the husband.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
“Perhaps one of the first married Nauvoo women to be introduced to Joseph Smith's polyandrous teachings was the wife of Apostle Orson Pratt. If one believes the report of Smith's turncoat counselor John C. Bennett, Joseph approached Sarah Pratt sometime in early 1841 while Orson was still on his mission in Europe. "Sister Pratt, the Lord has given you to me as one of my spiritual wives," Bennett later quoted Smith. "I have the blessings of Jacob granted me, as he granted holy men of old, and I have long looked upon you with favor, and hope you will not deny me." "I care not for the blessings of Jacob," the feisty Sarah reportedly replied. "I have one good husband, and that is enough for me" (Bennett 1842, 229). The incident caused sufficient difficulty between Smith and Pratt that both Orson and Sarah left the Church for a short time. Some have assumed that, when Joseph Smith approached married women with polyandrous proposals, he was merely testing their faith, loyalty, or virtue. In Sarah Pratt's case, for example, the 14 September 1877 New York Herald reported: "It is said that the Prophet admitted to [Pratt] the attempt he made on his wife's virtue, but that it was only done to see whether she was true to her absent husband." In at least two other cases the Prophet "tested" an apostle by asking him for the hand of his wife. Church President Wilford Woodruff recounted the "test" of Apostle John Taylor: "The Prophet went to the home of President Taylor, and said to him, 'Brother John, I WANT LEONORA.' " Taylor was stunned, but after walking the floor all night, the obedient elder said to Smith, "If GOD wants Leonora He can have her."Woodruff concluded: "That was all the prophet was after, to see where President Taylor stood in the matter, and said to him, Brother Taylor, I dont want your wife, I just wanted to know just where you stood" (Whitaker 1 Nov. 1890; emphasis in original).”
- Richard S. Van Wagoner (Fall 1985). "Mormon Polyandry in Nauvoo" (PDF). Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
"During my absence to Palestine, the conduct of his daughter, Nancy, became so notorious in this city, according to common rumor, she was regarded generally, little if any better than a public prostitute. Joseph Smith knowing the conduct she was guilty of, felt anxious to reprove and reclaim her if possible. He, accordingly, requested my wife to invite her down to her house. He wished to speak with her and show her the impropriety of being gallented shoot by so many different men, many of whom were comparatively strangets to her... Nancy, I presume, considered her dignity highly insulted at the plain and sharp reproofs she received front this servant of God. She ran home and told her father that Mr. Smith wanted her for a spiritual wife, and that he employed my wife to assist him in obtaining her." (Brian Hales, Orson Hyde to Nauvoo High Priests Quurom, April 1845)
Issues these Facts Raise
This holds all the same concerns with God sanctioning adultery, but this takes it a step further by cutting off another spouse for eternity. This feels like a no win situation. Either this is the type of God who does this, or Joseph was lying.
