10. Joseph Married Wives Without their Husbands Knowledge
September 24, 20248. First Sealing Dressed as a Man
September 26, 2024
Joseph married women who were already married to other living men (polyandry). Of those 34 women documented to have married Joseph, 11 of them were married women of other living men.
Table of contents
- Joseph married women who were already married to other living men (polyandry). Of those 34 women documented to have married Joseph, 11 of them were married women of other living men.
- A1) Joseph Smith married women who were already married. Brigham Young also practiced polyandry.
- A2) There is a lot of debate of whether these marriages were sexual. Here is one case where it appears to suggest that it was.
- A3) The scriptures say that polyandry is adultery.
- A4) It was preached against taking other men’s wives.
- A5) Mary Elizabeth Lightner (one of Joseph’s polyandrous wives) claimed Joseph taught that in the preexistence she had been created for Joseph and would be condemned if she did not marry him.
- Issues these Facts Raise
- Questions these Facts Raise
A1) Joseph Smith married women who were already married. Brigham Young also practiced polyandry.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
“Following his marriage to Louisa Beaman and before he married other single women, Joseph Smith was sealed to a number of women who were already married.”
–LDS.org, Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Navoo
Footnote 29 from the above quote:
29. Estimates of the number of these sealings range from 12 to 14. (See Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith [Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997], 4, 6; Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, 1:253–76, 303–48.) For an early summary of this practice, see John A. Widtsoe, “Evidences and Reconciliations: Did Joseph Smith Introduce Plural Marriage?” Improvement Era 49, no. 11 (Nov. 1946): 766–67.
“In the labyrinth of early LDS matrimonial theology, the definitions of "wife" and "husband" are complex indeed. Polygyny — the practice of having two or more wives at the same time — correctly describes the Mormon practice of plural marriage. But so, in Nauvoo, does polyandry — the practice of having two or more husbands at the same time. There is considerable evidence, during the early years of plural marriage, that more than a few Mormon women had two husbands simultaneously. These bigamous or polyandrous relationships were complicated by the fact that the legal husband did not usually know about the extralegal husband. In addition, the Church recognized the nonlegal husband as the valid mate, whereas the law recognized the legal mate. Polygamy — the state of having two or more wives or husbands at the same time — is often said to be used incorrectly in describing Mormon plural marriage. But the history of Mormon marriage systems makes it correct to call many early Mormon marriages not only polygynous, but also polygamous.”
- 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.
If one superimposes a chronological perspective, one sees that of Smith’s first twelve wives, nine were polyandrous. So in this early period polyandry was the norm, not the anomaly. His later marriages were largely to single women, with two exceptions in 1843.
- Todd M. Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Kindle Edition. loc. 826-28.
In the eleven certain polyandrous marriages, only three of the husbands were non-Mormon (Lightner, Sayers, and Cleveland) and only one was disaffected (Buell). All other husbands were in good standing in the church at the time Joseph married their wives. Many were prominent church leaders and close friends of Smith. George W. Harris was a high councilor in Missouri and Nauvoo, a position equivalent to that of a twentieth-century general authority. Henry Jacobs was a devoted friend of Joseph and a faithful missionary. Orson Hyde was an apostle on his mission to Palestine when Smith married his wife. Jonathan Holmes was one of Smith’s bodyguards and served as a pallbearer after Smith’s death. Windsor Lyon was a member in good standing when Smith united with Sylvia Lyon, and he loaned the prophet money after the marriage. David Sessions was a devout Latter-day Saint.
- Todd M. Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Kindle Edition. loc. 835-40.
“Swedenborgian and Perfectionist thinking have striking similarities in Joseph Smith's early Nauvoo teachings. But Smith went a step further by advocating what he termed "celestial marriage," a blending of eternal marriage and polygamy to which polyandry became an integral though short-lived appendage.”
- 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.
“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.
Mary Elizabeth Rollins, married to non-Mormon Adam Lightner since 11 August 1835, was one of the first women to accept the polyandrous teachings of the Prophet. "He was commanded to take me for a wife," she wrote in a 21 November 1880 letter to Emmeline B. Wells. "I was his, before I came here," she added in an 8 February 1902 statement. Brigham Young secretly sealed the two in February 1842 when Mary was eight months pregnant with her son George Algernon Lightner.”
- 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.
“Two sisters, Zina D. and Prescindia Huntington, both respected Nauvoo women, were also polyandrous wives of Joseph Smith.”
- 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.
-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.
“Some readers may be surprised to learn that about a third of Joseph Smith’s plural sealings were to women who were already civilly married and had legal husbands.”
- Brian Hales, from Chapter 11 “Joseph Smith’s Practice of Plural Marriage” available at BYU.edu.
A2) There is a lot of debate of whether these marriages were sexual. Here is one case where it appears to suggest that it was.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
One of the polyandrous marriages included a deathbed confession that she had Joseph’s child. DNA evidence later showed the child was not Joseph’s.
Sylvia married Joseph Smith on February 8, 1842, when she was 23 years old. It is uncertain if her husband, Windsor, was aware of the marriage, but she did continue to live with him.
“Just prior to my mothers death in 1882 she called me to her bedside and told me that her days were numbered and before she passed away from mortality she desired to tell me something which she had kept as an entire secret from me and from all others but which she now desired to communicate to me. She then told me that I was the daughter of the Prophet Joseph Smith”” –Josephine Rosetta Lyon, Daughter of Sylvia Sessions (Compton 1997, pp. 183)
A3) The scriptures say that polyandry is adultery.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
The revelation on celestial and plural marriage, now section 132 in the Doctrine and Covenants, contains three references to sexually polyandrous relations. All three label them “adultery,” with two cases stating the woman involved “would be destroyed.”
- Brian Hales at: http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/common-questions/sexual-polyandry/
D&C 132:
41 And as ye have asked concerning adultery, verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man receiveth a wife in the new and everlasting covenant, and if she be with another man, and I have not appointed unto her by the holy anointing, she hath committed adultery and shall be destroyed.
42 If she be not in the new and everlasting covenant, and she be with another man, she has committed adultery.
43 And if her husband be with another woman, and he was under a vow, he hath broken his vow and hath committed adultery.
44 And if she hath not committed adultery, but is innocent and hath not broken her vow, and she knoweth it, and I reveal it unto you, my servant Joseph, then shall you have power, by the power of my Holy Priesthood, to take her and give her unto him that hath not committed adultery but hath been faithful; for he shall be made ruler over many.
45 For I have conferred upon you the keys and power of the priesthood, wherein I restore all things, and make known unto you all things in due time.
46 And verily, verily, I say unto you, that whatsoever you seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever you bind on earth, in my name and by my word, saith the Lord, it shall be eternally bound in the heavens; and whosesoever sins you remit on earth shall be remitted eternally in the heavens; and whosesoever sins you retain on earth shall be retained in heaven.
61 And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood—if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else.
62 And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified.
63 But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified.
A4) It was preached against taking other men’s wives.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
The vile practice of violating female virtue with impunity is customary among the professed Christian nations of the world; this is therefore no marvel to them, but they are struck with amazement when they are told a man may have more lawful wives than one! What do you think of a woman having more husbands than one? This is not; known to the law, yet it is done in the night, and considered by the majority of mankind to be all right. There are certain governments in the world, that give women license to open their doors and windows to carry on this abominable practice, under the cover of night. Five years ago the census of New York gave 15,000 prostitutes in that city. Is that law? Is that good order? Look at your Constitution, look at the Federal law, look at every wholesome principle, and they tell you that death is at your doors, corruption in your streets, and hell is all open, and gaping wide to inclose you in its fiery vortex. To talk about law and good order while such things exist, makes me righteously angry, Talk not to me about law.
- Brigham Young, August 1, 1852, Journal of Discourses, 1:361. Online at: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_1/Weaknesses_of_Man,_etc.
“God has strictly forbidden, in this Bible, plurality of husbands, and proclaimed against it in his law.”
- Orson Pratt, July 11, 1875, Journal of Discourses, 18:55–56. Online at: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_18/Immediate_Revelation,_etc.
“The opposers of Celestial Marriage sometimes quote a passage in the seventh chapter of Romans, second and third verses, to show that a plurality of wives is wrong; but when we come to read the passage it shows that a plurality of husbands is wrong. You can read that passage for yourselves.”
- George Albert Smith, October 8, 1869, Journal of Discourses, 13:41. Online at: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_13/Celestial_Marriage,_etc.
George Albert Smith’s wife Bathsheba Smith, who served as Relief Society General President, was asked in 1892 if it would “be a violation of the laws of the church for one woman to have two husbands living at the same time.” She replied: “I think it would.”
- Bathsheba Smith, deposition, Temple Lot transcript, respondent’s testimony, part 3, page 347, question 1142. Quoted from: http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/common-questions/sexual-polyandry/
First Presidency Counselor Joseph F. Smith wrote in 1889: “Polyandry is wrong, physiologically, morally, and from a scriptural point of order. It is nowhere sanctioned in the Bible, nor by the law of God or nature and has not affinity with ‘Mormon’ plural marriage.”
- Joseph F. Smith to Zenos H. Gurley, June 19, 1889, CHL. Richard E. Turley, Jr., Selected Collections from the Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 2002), 1: DVD 29.
“…Joseph Smith’s teachings that any form of sexual polyandry was adultery, that if a woman, “after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed” (D&C 132:63).”
- Journal of Mormon History, Vol. 38, No. 2, Spring 2012
A5) Mary Elizabeth Lightner (one of Joseph’s polyandrous wives) claimed Joseph taught that in the preexistence she had been created for Joseph and would be condemned if she did not marry him.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
Another doctrine that apparently served as underpinning for Smith’s polyandry was his doctrine of a pre-existence, which holds that our spirits lived with God before birth and were given assignments there relating to what we would do here. According to Mary Elizabeth Lightner, who was married to Adam Lightner when Joseph proposed to her, “Joseph Said I was his, before I came here. he said all the Devils in Hell should never get me from him .” Elsewhere she wrote that Smith told her he had been commanded to marry her, “or Suffer condemnation – for I [Mary] was created for him before the foundation of the Earth was laid.” Apparently, if Smith had a spiritual intuition that he was linked to a woman, he asserted that she had been sealed to him in the pre-existence, even though she was legally married to another man. But, as we have seen, he taught that civil marriages performed without the priesthood sealing power were not valid, even at times sinful. Therefore, the link in the preexistence would take immediate priority over a marriage performed by invalid, secular or “sectarian,” authority in this life.
- Todd M. Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith. Kindle Edition. loc. 898-906.
Issues these Facts Raise
Polyandry has no known attached revelation. It also doesn’t follow guidance provided later in D&C 132. Still, both Joseph and Brigham married other living men’s wives. Even wives of faithful LDS men. As Joseph was sealed to these women and the women were never sealed to their faithful spouses, that means in the next life the women will leave their other husband spouseless and go off with Joseph. Of course this is also with the caveat that God sanctioned and encouraged* all of this. (*By encouraged I mean threatened Joseph with death by an Angel if he didn’t do this).
Further polyandry seems to be condemned by God in scripture and actively taught against by Joseph Smith himself. It seems like even Joseph could not doctrinally justify his polygamy or polyandry.
Questions these Facts Raise
Why did Joseph marry already married women? Even very faithful members. Even the wife of a current active missionary.
Where does God ever sanction this? D&C132 seems to explicitly condemn this.
By what authority did Joseph marry already married women?
If this is a violation of God’s edict on plural marriage, as was taught by later prophets and D&C132, by what authority did Joseph Smith marry these already married women?
The website Mormonthink put the questions succinctly: “Polyandry also runs counter to the entire notion of eternal families. As we understand it, children are sealed to their father and the wife is sealed to the father, and in that means the entire family is sealed together. If in these cases the women were sealed to Joseph, then who were the children sealed to? If they were sealed to the woman's first husband, then the woman would not be sealed to them. If they were sealed to Joseph, then the poor first husband would not only be deprived of his wife, but also of his children in the eternity…It appears that Joseph Smith literally stole other men's wives and their children, regardless of whether he had sex with them or not. What right did he have to do that? Was he simply taking advantage of his authority as prophet?”
