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Nauvoo Polygamy: "... but we called it celestial marriage"

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This book is extremely well researched. I grew up on a diet of rumors about polygamy in the early days of the Mormon Church. This is the first time I have been able to locate the original sources of this information! What a treat! The author clarified the accounts that were written only by a second hand recorder

I was brought up in polygamy and am now a member of the Mormon Church. The information in the book has solidified my understanding of these confusing days and why polygamists keep living the life style. When my grandfather was sent to Mexico to marry his second wife in 1904 and then repudiated by the Church, I now understand. Why church leaders wouldn't cooperate with the Federal goverment during the late nineteenth century, why Joseph Smith chose to lie to his own wife and others about polygamy while teaching and living it in secret has helped me realize how deeply imbedded dishonest paradigms are in my own culture.

Emotional ties and an addiction to my tribe makes it difficult at my age to permanently move beyond those whom I love and share common values with. But I am grateful to know the truth.

It is good to realize that all religions have shady histories. Since Mormonism is comparitively new, resources about its early days are easier to find.

Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, had several other unique accomplishments in his shortened life. Among the most unusual was the institution of plural marriage or polygamy that he began in response to revelations from God. Beginning in the Mormon city of Nauvoo, Illinois, Smith married thirty-eight women and in the process, introduced the theological concept and practice of 'celestial marriage' to his most important followers. By early 1846 some 200 men had adopted a polygamous life style with 717 wives in total. After being expelled from Nauvoo by their non-Mormon neighbors, these men of the church would go on to marry a recorded total of 417 more women giving them an average of six wives each. In their new Utah settlements, this example would be taken up by others and despite the eventual abandonment of the practice by the Mormon Church, the practice continues among Mormon splinter groups to this very day. "Nauvoo Polygamy" is a 705-page work of impressive, meticulous, insightful, detailed, and documented historical scholarship by a noted Mormon historian and publisher making with very highly recommended reading for students of Mormon history in general, and the evolution of the practice of polygamy within the Mormon Church in particular.

George D. Smith's book is valuable for Appendix B, which is the result of many hours of investigation. All researchers into Nauvoo polygamy are indebted to him for this wonderful resource. However, readers will probably be unaware of the magnitude of available evidences that contradict his interpretations regarding almost every topic he addresses. It seems that George D. Smith did not spend enough time considering reliable manuscripts that provide an alternative view. In addition, the overall absence of footnotes allows opinions to appear in the text as documented history. Of course he has a right to express his interpretations, but without documentation, the storyline may go in whatever direction the writer desires. Credible evidence keeps writers honest in their reconstructions. Despite reviews characterizing NAUVOO POLYGAMY as well researched, from a documentation perspective, it contains perhaps a third as many references as Todd Compton's IN SACRED LONELINESS. This dearth of documentation frees the writer to advance speculation, conjectures, and opinions, which in and of itself is not problematic, except that he seldom informs his readers that what they are reading may not be documentable. See [...]

For those who love LDS history, this book is a must read. It chronicles some very important points in the history of the church in Nauvoo, Ill and gives insight to the lives lived in that time.

I think LDS people will find this is a non faith promoting book. In other words, it tells the truth that they will not want to know. It definitely gives the impression of a charismatic leader using his position to woo young teenagers to his bed in the name of his religion.

If you are LDS, don't buy this book. You will not believe what's in it. If you are a thinking, rational person, then you will find it an amazing read.

Plural marriage, or polygamy, among the Mormons has long been one of the most controversial and fascinating subjects in the history of the American religion. During the Nauvoo, Illinois, sojourn of the Mormons between 1839 and 1846 the practice of marrying more than one wife grew as a tenet of the faith and Joseph Smith Jr., founder and prophet of this religious group, initiated several of his closest associates into the "Principle," telling them that it was demanded of God for his chosen people. This book by George D. Smith, long a student of Mormon polygamy and the dominant force behind Signature Books as an alternative publisher of Mormon history from that offered by the church's official press, offers the most detailed and sophisticated analysis of polygamy's origins and practice during the life of the prophet.

Gossip about the practice of polygamy had swirled about Mormonism since the early 1830s--an 1835 General Conference had even adopted a resolution explicitly denying the charge--but the practice emerged full-blown in Nauvoo during the early 1840s. According to faithful Mormon accounts Joseph Smith had begun it only because it was the will of God. A commandment to that effect had come as early as 1831 and Smith had practiced polygamy in fits and starts over the years, but he expanded it secretly in Nauvoo.

A formal revelation commanding this practice came in 1843, but it was still not well known even among the faithful until after his assassination in 1844. His first plural marriage in Nauvoo was to Louisa Beaman on April 5, 1841, and by the time of Smith's death the best evidence suggests that he had married some 33 different women. Some of these were young teenagers, most of whom he had met while they had been servants in his home. He also pressed other confidents to take additional wives, some of whom were already married to other men. Through all of this rumors swirled and Smith consistently denied them. When resistance to these actions arose in the church and dissenters accused him of reprehensible actions--including internal dissenters such as the upright William Law--they were defamed as "persecutors," "false swearers," and "wolves" whose charges were "of the devil."

For those accepting plural marriage this practice was about extending familial ties into eternity, achieving eventually the status of godhood in the "celestial kingdom." The complex theology justifying this emerged over time, but it was built on a set of assumptions about gender relations, priesthood, hierarchies of power, and both subservience and surrender to church authorities on the part of those entering the "Principle." The critical aspect of this is the necessary linkage of women to men. The faithful wife, or more likely wives, had gifts and promises and blessing with the husband, but not in her own right, and this helped ensure her subservience.

These themes of subservience and surrender are brought to the fore in this book by George D. Smith. The men who engaged in polygamy signaled their surrender and subservience to Joseph Smith, although they would have said they signaled it to God, by agreeing to alter their lifestyles in ways that forever set them apart from the American mainstream. The women who entered the "Principle" also sacrificed their desires and dreams on the altar of plural marriage to serve their husband and family. Accepting plural marriage required a remarkable alteration of societal norms. It ensured that as long as the individual desired maintaining a relationship to the family, he or she also had to remain true to the Latter-day Saint church as the only place where the practice of polygamy would be tolerated.

This domination of the lives of believers in such a fundamental manner led to abuses and a series of scandals in Nauvoo. George Smith delights in relating these issues. First, there is the seduction of married women who were induced to leave their legal husbands, usually without a divorce, and sometimes their children to take up with some Mormon priesthood member in plural marriage. Second, and more nefarious, was the pursuit of teenagers and their inducement to enter plural marriage with much older Mormon priesthood bearers. Prurient interests, as George Smith makes clear, drove much of this effort. That is not to say that those engaged in plural marriage were motivated solely by lust. The vast majority seemed to believe they were engaged in carrying out God's will.

The story that George Smith tells here, with its emphasis on subservience and surrender, seduction and priestly hierarchies is one that makes modern Mormons uncomfortable. Although the church practiced polygamy openly in Utah until 1890, abandoning it only as part of an agreement with federal officials, some believers in the mission of Joseph Smith Jr. continue to practice polygamy to the present. The last part of "Nauvoo Polygamy" details the debate over the nature and meaning of polygamy in Mormon history and how it has been dealt with, or more likely not dealt with, by the church's current membership. George Smith titles one of his chapters discussing this subject "A Silenced Past" and excoriates the church hierarchy: "Instead of evaluating a difficult past in order not to repeat it, the church leadership tried to separate its troubles from their apparent causes" (p. 442).

Understanding these myths, how they arose, why they have salience, and how they have affected the people being studied is critical to furthering understanding about Nauvoo and the church's experience there. George Smith found little of this in the recounting of the official church response to Nauvoo polygamy. Indeed, Smith concludes, "The thirteen-million-strong mainstream LDS Church tries to suppress the memory of a half century of polygamy" (p. 550). While Smith is essentially speaking to the Mormon membership in Nauvoo Polygamy his desire to tell this story is also appropriate for non-Mormons interested in the history of Illinois and his study makes an important contribution that will be valuable to all seeking fuller understanding of the Mormon experience in Nauvoo.

When the marrying was all done, Brigham Young had 55 wives and Joseph Smith had a mere 37. Of course, Young had a lot more time in which to woo the ladies, since he outlived Smith by several decades and had the whole Utah Territory in which to operate. Smith, on the other hand, married in haste prior to his murder (with no time, apparently, to repent at leisure). When one wasn't enough, he would marry sisters on the same day.

The Mormon Church today wants nothing to do with its polygamous past. The thing which made Mormonism both unique and roundly hated in the 19th Century has long been stashed in a closet somewhere in Salt Lake City. A recent LDS publication on Young mentions only one wife, thus jilting more than four dozen others. Today the Church champions "traditional marriage" - one man, one woman-and excommunicates any bigamous soul that comes within its sights.

An odd result, since Smith, Young, John Taylor and other Church prophets were unequivocal in stating that the only way to get to the "highest degree of glory" was to live "the principle." Apparently God had an abrupt change of heart in 1892 when, in order to get in line for statehood, the Church said that old men could no longer add to their celestial bank account by marrying young girls.

The author, George D. Smith, is the founder and publisher of Signature Books which produced this outstanding book. Recognizing that polygamy, especially its origins in the Church and its practice in Nauvoo prior to the Mormon exodus to Utah, has been a neglected part of LDS history, Smith has put together an extraordinary account of "celestial marriage" as practiced in Illinois.

Rumors of Joseph Smith's interest in polygamy date to 1831. Also, a debate continues as to whether Fanny Alger, with whom Smith had, as Oliver Cowdrey put it, a "dirty, nasty, filthy affair" in 1832, should be considered one of Smith's wives. The author doesn't include Alger, instead concentrating on Smith's matrimonial exploits starting with Louisa Beaman in April 1841, over two years before Smith actually wrote down the "revelation" Smith received commanding he take additional wives.

Smith (the author) details how Joseph talked women into marrying him, how he allowed others to marry multiple wives as a reward for loyalty, how the practice mushroomed in Nauvoo, and how Smith lied about having multiple wives at the same time he was marrying them. The efforts to keep the practice subrosa failed when other high ranking Church officials blew the whistle. The Nauvoo Expositor published its one and only edition notifying the world what many in Nauvoo already knew - Smith was a polygamist. Smith promptly had the paper's press destroyed, which lead to his arrest and, ultimately, to his lynching in the Carthage jail.

The research done for this book is staggering. The author has mined every available source to come up with a definitive list of the 192 men who practiced "spiritual wifery" in Nauvoo, and the names of the hundreds of women whom they married. Additionally, he recounts how Joseph F. Smith, a future LDS President, obtained affidavits from many of the polygamous wives of Joseph in order to prove to Joseph Smith III that his father had, in fact, had numerous wives, something that Emma Smith, Joseph's "legal" wife and Joseph III's mother, categorically denied up to her death, despite evidence that she was aware of at least some of the multiple marriages.

This is not history that the Mormon Church will embrace, or, likely, even acknowledge. Missionaries won't be distributing this book along with a free copy of The Book of Mormon. The fact that Joseph's wives included 13 women with then existing, living husbands, can't go over well with the faithful who have been schooled in the requirement of monogamous marriage. Obviously, it is not something likely to endear Joseph Smith and the LDS Church to outsiders.

This book is not light reading for the casual aficionado of Mormon history. But for those who like to plumb the depths of this truly amazing religion it will prove invaluable.

This book is well researched and is balanced in its approach. Worth the read.

Good book. Good as a reference work with its meticulous appendix on Nauvoo polygamists (including 2 of my ancestors). Wonderful chapter on antecedents to Mormon polygamy in world, Christian, and Protestant culture, specifically Anabaptism. Well documented account of Joseph Smith's and other Mormon leaders' plural marriages and the women (and some monogamous men) involved. I learned a lot. It will take time to assimilate.

Most revealing to me is the connections the author traces between "dead" polygamous principles and current LDS doctrine, policy, and attitudes. Even as a teenager and practicing Mormon, I had trouble with what seemed to me demeaning church teachings regarding women. Strangely, I now feel kind of liberated-- as if I might after all be able to enjoy some peace with my Mormon roots. I'm not sure how such an unlikely response could follow-- maybe because the skeleton is now out in the open, where it can be seen and talked about rather than repressed and feared.

George Smith's Nauvoo Polygamy: "but we called it etc." is a remarkable and revealing book. The clues were in front of me all along, but it took Smith's writing to convince. My goodness. My dear Nauvoo. I'm humbled and amazed.

H. Leonard Porter, Ph.D.