30. Church Encouraged getting as many wives as possible
September 6, 202428. There were more men than women during polygamy.
September 8, 2024
Studies have shown that monogamous women bore more children per wife than did polygamous wives (except the first wife).
Table of contents
- Studies have shown that monogamous women bore more children per wife than did polygamous wives (except the first wife).
- A1) Church leaders taught that plural marriage was instigated because there was a surplus of women and this would produce more children.
- A2) Studies show that monogamous marriages produced more children per wife.
- Issues these Facts Raise
- Questions these Facts Raise
A1) Church leaders taught that plural marriage was instigated because there was a surplus of women and this would produce more children.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
In the February 17, 1855, Millennial Star, Apostle Franklin D. Richards argued that “in the largest cities of the Union, the females out-number the males in the ratio of ten percent” and that polygamy could cure the malady of “old maidenhood.”
- [Editorial], “Matrimony—Disparity of Sex,” Millennial Star 17, no. 7 (February 17, 1855): 110–11; see also [Franklin D. Richards, ed.], “Baptism and Plurality of Wives,” Millennial Star 17, no. 41 (October 13, 1855): 642. Quoted here: https://josephsmithspolygamy.org/theology/explanation_for_mormon_polygamy/
Jedediah Grant, then a member of the First Council of Seventy, in 1851 said, “explained to Kane that plural marriage was necessary because females outnumbered males three to two, and this ratio was forcing many women to marry outside the church.”
- David J. Whittaker, “The Bone in the Throat: Orson Pratt and the Public Announcement of Plural Marriage” Western Historical Quarterly 18 (July 1987): 297; see also David J. Whittaker, “Early Mormon Pamphleteering,” (Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1982): 324–25. Quoted here: https://josephsmithspolygamy.org/theology/explanation_for_mormon_polygamy/
“The fact is while at Nauvoo, our missionaries abroad made converts among single women a great deal faster than among men. The consequence was that, coming into a new community where they had no homes or protectors of their own, we had to parcel them around among our different families. This, we soon found was giving rise to scandal and to possible illicit attachments, and as a matter of decency and morals we had to provide someway by which this excess of women could have some normal relations to the families where they were placed. Marrying them to their heads with all the safeguards of religion seemed to us the only possible way: And so using our common sense we took that as the will of the Lord.”
- John C. Kimball in the Christian Register quoted in Anti-Polygamy Standard 2, no. 6 (September 1881): 44; italics in original. Quoted here: https://josephsmithspolygamy.org/theology/explanation_for_mormon_polygamy/
A2) Studies show that monogamous marriages produced more children per wife.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
"Studies have shown that monogamous women bore more children per wife than did polygamous wives except the first.” See footnote #6: Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah
This seems to counter what the Church said in their other essay :
Years later in Utah, participants in Nauvoo plural marriage discussed their motives for entering into the practice. God declared in the Book of Mormon that monogamy was the standard; at times, however, He commanded plural marriage so His people could "raise up seed unto [Him]." [Jacob 2:30] Plural marriage did result in an increased number of children born to believing parents.
"Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo" in the section titled, "Trial and Spiritual Witness." (emphasis added): https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng
Issues these Facts Raise
Why was polygamy issued? Doesn’t appear to be because it brought more children into the world.
Why would God give a revelation that was detrimental to the stated goal of raising up seed?
Questions these Facts Raise
The entire premise of polygamy as a way to quickly grow the church is false? Then what was the purpose?
