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Beginning in the 1830s, at least thirty-three women married Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. These were passionate relationships which also had some longevity, except in cases such as that of two young sisters, one of whom was discovered by Joseph’s first wife, Emma, in a locked bedroom with the prophet. Emma remained a steadfast opponent of polygamy throughout her life.
The majority of Smith’s wives were younger than he, and one-third were between fourteen and twenty years of age. Another third were already married, and some of the husbands served as witnesses at their own wife’s polyandrous wedding. In addition, some of the wives hinted that they bore Smith children—most notably Sylvia Sessions’s daughter Josephine—although the children carried their stepfather’s surname.
For all of Smith’s wives, the experience of being secretly married was socially isolating, emotionally draining, and sexually frustrating. Despite the spiritual and temporal benefits, which they acknowledged, they found their faith tested to the limit of its endurance. After Smith’s death in 1844, their lives became even more “lonely and desolate.” One even joined a convent. The majority were appropriated by Smith’s successors, based on the Old Testament law of the Levirate, and had children by them, though they considered these guardianships unsatisfying. Others stayed in the Midwest and remarried, while one moved to California. But all considered their lives unhappy, except for the joy they found in their children and grandchildren.
- Sales Rank: #86763 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-12-23
- Released on: 2015-12-23
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Library Journal
Formerly at UCLA and now the editor of Mormonism and Early Christianity, Compton has compiled a meticulously researched and masterly study of Mormon Joseph Smith's 33 wives. The women are presented individually, with many of their own documents cited. Compton contends that "Mormon polygamy was characterized by a tragic ambiguity": infinite dominion in the next life vs. a social system that did not work, thus resulting in acute neglect of the wives. These "key women have been comparatively forgotten," surprisingly so considering the reverence Mormons hold for their founding prophet and how important polygamy was to Smith. The "sacred loneliness" refers to Smith's promise of salvation combined with the solitude of the forsaken multiple wives. A plenary reference and bibliography and a collection of the wives' photographs fill out this tome, making it a fascinating work. Valuable for both lay readers and scholars, this is recommended for public and academic libraries with good collections in history and women's studies.?Kay Meredith Dusheck, Anamosa, IA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Todd M. Compton, Ph.D., classics, UCLA, is the author of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, editor of Mormonism and Early Christianity, a contributor to The Encyclopedia of Mormonism and Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism, and has been published in the American Journal of Philology, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Classical Quarterly, and the Journal of Popular Culture, among others. He currently plays electric violin in the Mark Davis Group, which performs at coffee houses and music clubs in the Los Angeles area, and is the assistant systems manager for Paul, Hastings, Jaofski, and Walker. He lives in Santa Monica, California.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION.
This book had its genesis in a research fellowship I received from the Huntington Library in 1992. My interest, among other things, was Eliza R. Snow’s pioneer diaries, housed in the Huntington’s impressive document collection. As a leading woman of early Mormonism—a poet, female activist, secret polygamous wife to Latter-day Saint (LDS) church founder Joseph Smith, and later a wife of Brigham Young—Snow seemed significant enough to warrant further attention, even though much had already been written about her. Particularly interesting to me were her oblique allusions to other plural wives, sometimes referred to by given name, sometimes by maiden or married surname only. To identify these women, I knew I would have to consult reliable lists of the marriages of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Joseph Smith. Jeffery Johnson had published a good list of Brigham Young’s wives, and Stanley Kimball had provided a full list of Heber’s. Nevertheless, for Smith himself, I could not find any definitive listing of his plural marriage partners.
Andrew Jenson’s century-old list of twenty-seven of Smith’s plural wives provided a core of basic data. In the 1950s, Stanley S. Ivins compiled an unpublished list of eighty-four women, but many of these were only sealings to Joseph after his death. The first fully annotated, footnoted inventory of Smith’s plural wives was the appendix of Fawn Brodies No Man Knows My History, published in 1945, with minor updating in the 1971 edition. Although Brodie was a pioneer in documenting Smith’s polygamy, fifty years of secondary publications and classification of primary documents have dated her book, and, moreover, scholars have faulted her for relying on antagonistic sources that have since proven unreliable.
Eventually I concluded that a full, complete, up-to-date list of Joseph Smith’s wives would be a valuable addition to Mormon studies, and my project on Eliza Snow metamorphosed into an investigation of all of the wives of Joseph Smith, with Snow being one among many. Since early polygamy was secret and not officially documented, there are still many uncertainties in even a conservative, carefully documented description of Smith’s extended family. Nevertheless, this book furthers research on these women, provides an update to Brodie, and attempts a more balanced evaluation than her book offered.
Most helpful customer reviews
356 of 382 people found the following review helpful.
An excellent book
By Duwayne Anderson
It is hard to find a book about early Mormonism that does not focus almost exclusively on Joseph Smith. As founder of the Mormon religion, this may not seem surprising, but it's refreshing just the same to read Todd Compton's book with its almost exclusive focus on Joseph's wives, and comparatively little focus on the Mormon prophet.
Compton's book consists of 30 chapters; each written as a biography of the various women Joseph Smith married, with the conspicuous absence of Emma Smith. This highlights and emphasizes the fact that, though Joseph had many wives, they were all rejected by Emma who vigorously opposed polygamy and the intrusions it brought into her home.
Studying Mormon history has become a mixed blessing. On one hand, historical scholarship of the subject has advanced greatly since Bodie's landmark "No man knows my History." On the other hand, excommunication of prominent historians (such as Quinn and Brodie) by the Mormon Church has resulted in much fear and distrust. For most Mormons, Todd Compton's book probably falls outside the designation of "faith promoting," and may be uncomfortable for many active members of the church.
Growing up in the Mormon Church, I learned several myths about early Mormon polygamy such as: 1. A man's wife had to approve the marriage to plural wives. 2. Most plural wives were older women whose husbands had died, and for whom polygamy represented safe heaven from a brutal world. 3. Most of Joseph's plural wives were sealed to him, but had no sexual relationship with him. 4. Joseph's plural wives never became pregnant from him. 5. There was never any admission or even mention of polyandry.
Through the biographies he has constructed, Compton exposes each of these myths. Chapter 1 discusses Fanny Alger, who married Joseph when she was only sixteen and he was twenty-seven. Emma didn't know about the marriage, and when she learned of it (by seeing Fanny and Joseph together, by one account, and noticing Fanny's pregnancy by another account - see pages 34-35) drove Fanny from their house. Oliver Cowdery (one of the Book-of-Mormon witnesses) described Joseph's relationship with Fanny as a sexual affair, and accused Joseph of adultery - resulting in Oliver's excommunication in 1838 (see pages 38-39).
Compton spends considerable effort reconciling Cowdery's description of Fanny Alger as an affair, and others who clearly describe a marriage relationship (though without the approval or knowledge of Emma). As I read the book I kept expecting Compton to draw the obvious conclusion, that Joseph had an affair with Fanny and then invented polygamy (which he may have been contemplating anyway) to save his presidency and justify his actions. Compton, however, never draws this conclusion, and ends still contemplating the two possible scenarios as mutually exclusive.
I found particular interest in this book because one of Joseph Smith's plural wives, Melissa Lott, was my great, great, great grandmother (see chapter 28). Like many of his other plural wives, Melissa was young (only 19) when she married Joseph Smith. Growing up Mormon, my parents taught me that Melissa had been a "spiritual" wife of Joseph Smith, having been sealed to Joseph only after his death (a common occurrence). During an interview with Joseph Smith's son, and President of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, however, Melissa stated that she had been a wife indeed, with full benefit of a sexual relationship with the prophet. Melissa married Joseph less than a year before he was murdered and later married my great, great, great grandfather. Both lived hard lives, and her second husband died (along with their young son) when the wagon he was driving turned over with its load of firewood and drowned them in a creek. It was a touching chapter for me, the more so because Melissa is my ancestor, and illustrates the central theme of all Joseph's plural wives: sacred loneliness and lives of hard work and toil.
Passionately written through the eyes of those who knew him, loved him, followed him, and counted on him for salvation, Compton's book is a must for anyone interested in Mormon history and the personal lives that launched this twentieth-century American religion. Meticulously researched and well written, I highly recommend it.
Duwayne Anderson
177 of 191 people found the following review helpful.
Unmentioned truths.
By Active Latter-Day Texan
I am an active Latter Day Saint, and I ordered this book because despite being LDS, I had no understanding of polygamy, especially as it related to Joseph Smith. I was never taught that Joseph had other wives, and I cannot recall it ever being mentioned in church despite my life-long activity in the church. We are not encouraged to look into this issue, and in many ways we are dissuaded from looking. I purchased the book because of reviews saying it was an unbiased factual analysis of Joseph Smith's plural wives, and their lives. It was definately worth the money, and I got more than I paid for. It is objective and factual. The author goes to lengths to scruitinize sources, and uses multiple sources for information. The book is not for the weak of faith because it explains the problems that the women had because of polygamy (Emma's hostility to the doctrine, Joseph's denial that it was being practiced after a number of early marriages, and the alienation of women who shared a husband with a number of wives), but truth is truth and should be pursued. The information in the book is detailed, documented, from contemorary journals, and most sources are friendly to the church. The focus of the book is on the women themselves. It not only documents what information there is about their marriage to Joseph Smith, but also documents the rest of their lives including subsequent spouses. Much of the information comes from the women themselves as given in their journals or autobiographies. It is clear the book is meant as a survey of the lives of these women and not an effort to disparage Joseph Smith, although it will be seen as somewhat troubling to some because polygamy often offends our modern notions of morality. Many would rather push such historical facts out of their mind rather than study it and have a new perspective on church history, and an explanation of why polygamy was so important to Brigham Young and other prophets. I actually found it to be very uplifting. There was so much for these women to overcome. Joseph died, and they were left without a husband facing the prospect of crossing the plains. Many remarried into other polygamous and monogomous relationships. Many lost children crossing the plains. Their lives are both tragic and encouraging because of the great trials they faced and overcame. Three of his wives became presidents of the church Relief Society program: Emma Smith, Eliza Snow, and Zina Huntington.
The only problem I have with the book is the difficult endnote system. With something this grand, footnotes on the same page would have been better. That being said, the book is wonderful if you want a biography of the wives of Joseph Smith, including the courtship, relationship, what they did after Joseph Smith died, and the wives views on the marriage years later. I highly recommend the book.
92 of 101 people found the following review helpful.
VERY ENLIGHTENING!
By A Customer
To say the least, this was a very informative book! I had long suspected that there was more to Joseph Smith's plural wives, and I am grateful to have a book which has provided me with SOME ANSWERS about a topic which is so ignored in the Church. This book is not for the weak in faith; it presents information which can be very disconcerting (which I have, personally, corroborated from other sources). In sharing some of the information with my wife, she seriously questioned whether Joseph Smith was a "fallen Prophet." (Joseph married other men's wives; and, understandably, my wife finds that very disturbing). In sharing some of the information from the book with my brother (who, as I, has been faithful and active members of the Church for over 25 years), my brother responded: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Needless to say, I have some very serious concerns about the secreative aspects of a "Man of God." I, however, am reserving judgement - as I have not, as yet, finished the book; also, I tend to give Joseph and Brigham the benefit of the doubt (There must be some explanation with which I am unfamiliar.). I must say, at times - as a result of reading the book, I regard polygamy, as practiced by Joseph and Brigham (who, later, married some of Joseph's wives, and who married the wife of a member who was away on a mission), as very repulsive - even though I have been a personal supporter of polygamy (based upon the limited "teachings" I have received in the Church). The unusual method of footnoting used by the author is very confusing (which causes me some apprehension as to the authors credibility -- which, as mentioned above, has led me to independently corroborate what I can). As mentioned by others who have reviewed the book, there is no apparent effort by the author to degrade Joseph Smith and/or the Church; he, simply, presents his information for your personal and independent consideration - which I have found very admirable; there is no "anti-mormon" sentiment (frankly, I can't tell if the author is a member, a non-member, or an ex-communicated member; and, really, it doesn't matter - the truth of the material stands on its own). Well, I highly recommend the book to a person seeking the truth and answers about the beginnings of polygamy in the time of Joseph Smith; I have given the book a 4-star rating (rather than a 5-star rating) only because of the very cumbersome footnoting. Finally - Thank You Todd Compton (the author) for your efforts in bringing this valuable information into the reach of those of us seeking the truth - which is, so often, hidden and kept from us by those who might find the material "politically incorrect."
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