Posted on 10/26/2014 7:11:46 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
SALT LAKE CITY – A new church essay reveals Mormon church founder Joseph Smith had an underage bride and was married to other men's wives during the early days of the faith when polygamy was practiced.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says most of Smith's wives were adults, but one was a 14-year-old girl who was the daughter of Smith's close friends. Research shows the marriage might not have involved sex.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Not attacking mormonS, exposing mormonISM - big difference.
That doesn't explain Smith marrying so many young girls who never married nor does that take into account the children he had with them.
The offical ones of the ones swept under the rug?
To how many men at the same time?
Talking about multiple marriages is one thing but trying to shock with "Teenage Bride" is rather silly as most brides were in their teens. The over 20 bride was the unusual.
“It did happen with “women shortages” that two or more men would share a wife.”
Anytime you begin to refer to non-Christians, what they do invariably veers from God’s standard in the Bible.
“Talking about multiple marriages is one thing but trying to shock with “Teenage Bride” is rather silly as most brides were in their teens. The over 20 bride was the unusual.”
I agree that the Horndog Prophet Smith has so much baggage as a con man that one wife doesn’t make much difference. He liked them young, middle aged, married, single, any which way he could con them.
In the 1800s average of the bride was 18, the groom 20.
The bride was not 14, marrying a guy who was 30 and married to dozens of other women.
Population statistics for Utah from 1850 to 1950 show that there were always more men than women (Caucasian only):
Year Male Female
1850 6,020 - 5,310
1860 20,178 - 19,947
1870 43,451 - 42,503
1880 73,477 - 68,946
1890 108,943 - 96,982
1900 138,923 - 133,542
1910 192,118 - 174,465
1920 227,232 - 214,669
1930 255,284 - 244,683
1940 274,587 - 268,333
1950 341,007 - 335,902
Henry Jacobs was an active, ranking member of the Mormon/Nauvoo society and was faithful. He followed the prophet and went to England as a missionary, leaving his wife, Zina, and newborn child behind AFTER Joseph Smith AND later Brigham Young were both married to his wife, only to get off the boat in New York on his way home to receive a letter from his wife saying she’d moved in with her 2nd/3rd husband Brigham, and then she had Brigham Young’s child. This clearly disproves any faithful member claims that there was no sex and providing the opportunity for salvation the women otherwise wouldn’t have?
So a "teen bride".
The bride was not 14, marrying a guy who was 30
Read the "Little House on the Prairie" books. In "By the Shores of Silver Lake" they mention a 13 year old bride and while they wonder why she would want to marry they are not shocked. No comment on the age of the man but if he was a homesteader he was over 21.
You want to complain about polygamy, you have grounds. Teen bride? Common practice.
Henry Jacob’s Wife, Zina
Prescindia’s twenty-year-old sister Zina was living in the Joseph Smith home when Elder Henry B. Jacobs married her in March 1841. According to family records, when Zina and Henry asked Joseph Smith why he had not honored them by performing their marriage, Smith replied that “the Lord had made it known to him that [Zina] was to be his Celestial wife.” Believing that “whatever the Prophet did was right, without making the wisdom of God’s authorities bend to the reasoning of any man,” the devout Elder Jacobs consented for six-months-pregnant Zina to be sealed to Joseph Smith 27 October 1841. Some have suggested that the Jacobs’s marriage was “unhappy” and that the couple had separated before her sealing to Joseph Smith. But, though sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity, Zina continued her connubial relationship with her husband Henry Jacobs. On 2 February 1846, pregnant with Henry’s second son, Zina was re-sealed by proxy to the murdered Joseph Smith and in that same session was “sealed for time” to Brigham Young. Faithful Henry B. Jacobs stood by as an official witness to both ceremonies.
(”History of Henry Bailey Jacobs.” By Ora J. Cannon, page 5-7. also see “Recollections of Zina D. Young” by Mary Brown Firmage)
Zina and Henry lived together as husband and wife until the Mormon pioneers reached Mt. Pisgah, Iowa. At this temporary stop on the pioneer trail, Brigham Young announced that “it was time for men who were walking in other men’s shoes to step out of them. Brother Jacobs, the woman you claim for a wife does not belong to you. She is the spiritual wife of brother Joseph, sealed up to him. I am his proxy, and she, in this behalf, with her children, are my property. You can go where you please, and get another, but be sure to get one of your own kindred spirit” (Hall 1853, 43-44). President Young then called Jacobs on a mission to England. Witnesses to his departure commented that he was so emotionally ill they had to “put him on a blanket and carry him to the boat to get him on his way”.
(”Short Sketch of the Life of Henry B. Jacobs” By Ora J. Cannon)
Henry returned from his mission and settled in California. But he was still in love with his wife Zina, now a plural wife of Brigham Young. Henry’s letters to his wife Zina were heartrending. On 2 September 1852 he wrote: “O how happy I should be if I only could see you and the little children, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” “I am unhappy,” Henry lamented, “there is no peace for poor me, my pleasure is you, my comfort has vanished.... O Zina, can I ever, will I ever get you again, answer the question please.” In an undated Valentine he added:
Zina my mind never will change from Worlds without Ends, no never, the same affection is there and never can be moved I do not murmur nor complain of the handlings of God no verily, no but I feel alone and no one to speak to, to call my own. I feel like a lamb without a mother, I do not blame any person or persons, no—May the Lord our Father bless Brother Brigham and all purtains unto him forever. Tell him for me I have no feelings against him nor never had, all is right according to the Law of the Celestial Kingdom of our god Joseph [Smith].” (”Short Sketch of the Life of Henry B. Jacobs” By Ora J. Cannon)
Reference: http://www.i4m.com/think/history/Joseph_Smith_mens_wives.htm
pg 44-45, Mormon Polygamy, Richard S. Van Wagoner
And men tended to live longer as well.
The following is from a love letter Joseph Smith wrote when he wanted to arrange a liaison with Newel K. Whitney's daughter Sarah Ann, whom Smith had secretly married without Emma's knowledge three weeks prior to this time. (emphasis added)
"Dear, and Beloved, Brother and Sister, Whitney, and &c.—
I take this oppertunity to communi[c]ate, some of my feelings, privetely at this time, which I want you three Eternaly to keep in your own bosams; for my feelings are so strong for you since what has pased lately between us, that the time of my abscence from you seems so long, and dreary, that it seems, as if I could not live long in this way: and three would come and see me in this my lonely retreat, it would afford me great relief, of mind, if those with whom I am alied, do love me; now is the time to afford me succour, in the days of exile, for you know I foretold you of these things. I am now at Carlos Graingers, Just back of Brother Hyrams farm, it is only one mile from town, the nights are very pleasant indeed, all three of you come come and See me in the fore part of the night, let Brother Whitney come a little a head, and nock at the south East corner of the house at window; it is next to the cornfield, I have a room inti=rely by myself, the whole matter can be attended to with most perfect safty, I it is the will of God that you should comfort now in this time of affliction, or not at[ta]l now is the time or never, but I hav[e] no kneed of saying any such thing, to you, for I know the goodness of your hearts, and that you will do the will of the Lord, when it is made known to you; the only thing to be careful of; is to find out when Emma comes then you cannot be safe, but when she is not here, there is the most perfect safty: only be careful to escape observation, as much as possible, I know it is a heroick undertakeing; but so much the greater frendship, and the more Joy, when I see you I tell you all my plans, I cannot write them on paper, burn this letter as soon as you read it; keep all locked up in your breasts, my life depends upon it. one thing I want to see you for is git the fulness of my blessings sealed upon our heads, &c. you wi will pardon me for my earnest=ness on when you consider how lonesome I must be, your good feelings know how to every allowance for me, I close my letter, I think Emma wont come tonight if she dont dont fail to come to night. I subscribe myself your most obedient, affectionate, companion, and friend.
- Joseph Smith Handwritten Letter
D&C 132:63: ...for they [the virgins referred to earlier in the verse and in verses 61 and 62] are given unto him TO MULTIPLY AND REPLENISH THE EARTH, according to my commandment, and to fulfill 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. (Caps added)
And from Brigham Young [emphasis added]:
"Birth control----There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles [bodies], now what is our duty?---To prepare tabernacles for them; to take a course that will not tend to drive those spirits into the families of the wicked, where they will be trained in wickedness, debauchery, and every species of crime. It is the duty of every righteous man and woman to prepare tabernacles for all the spirits they can. This is the reason why the doctrine of plurality of wives was revealed, so that the noble spirits which are waiting for tabernacles might be brought forth." (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 197.)
If Joseph was commanded to marry these women for the express purpose of multiplying and replenishing the earth, he would have been breaking the "commandment" from God if he did not try to procreate with his wives.
Joseph’s children?
Researchers have tentatively identified eight children that Joseph Smith may have had by his plural wives. Besides Josephine Fisher (b. Feb. 8, 1844) and Oliver Buell, named as possible children of Joseph Smith by his plural wives are John R. Hancock (b. Apr. 19, 1841), George A. Lightner (b. Mar. 12, 1842), Orson W. Hyde (b. Nov. 9, 1843), Frank H. Hyde (b. Jan 23, 1845), Moroni Pratt (b. Dec. 7, 1844), and Zebulon Jacobs (b. Jan 2, 1842). (Mormon Polygamy: A History by LDS Historian Richard S. Van Wagoner, pages 44, 48- 49n3.)
Castration
When Joseph supposedly propositioned (or actually had sex with) fifteen year old Nancy Marinda Johnson, Dr. Dennison, with the encouragement of a neighborhood mob, nearly castrated him. Why would the mob try to castrate him? Castration is used as a penalty for sexual crimes only. The castration attempt is acknowledged by pro-LDS scholar Susan Easton, although she does not say why the Johnson brothers attempted to castrate Joseph.
More on the tar and feathering of Joseph Smith:
Randy Jordan discussions: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.mormon/msg/adf5058a6fed9bfa
http://www.fourth-millennium.net/family-travels/warren-waste-articles.html
Sylvia Sessions, Mary Heron, and Sarah Ann Whitney
FAIR apologist Brian C. Hales has been quite vocal that the evidence supports Joseph may have had sex with at least three of the women that already had husbands, namely Sylvia Sessions, Mary Heron, and Sarah Ann Whitney. His reasoning is that it was okay and not adultery because the husbands of these three women were not physically present. He also uses late quotes from Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball claiming Joseph taught that a woman can change husbands without a bill of divorcement if the new husband is more worthy or has higher priesthood.
Of the 14 civilly married women, I believe 11 of the unions were of this type: “eternity only” sealings. The 3 remaining women were sealed for “time and eternity,” which probably included sexual relations with Joseph. Two (Sarah Ann Whitney and Sylvia Sessions) were already physically separated from their legal husbands, so no change in marital dynamics between them and their civil husbands was required. Interpretter article by Brian C. Hales
Also, in this article from apologist Brian Hales, he states:
Runnells seems concerned that Joseph Smith was sealed to “at least 34 women.” It is actually 35 by my count. While it is a large number, it is important to note that at least 13, and possibly as many as 20, were non-sexual “eternity only” sealings. (Jeremy Runnells—the New Expert on Joseph Smith’s Polygamy? By Brian C. Hales)
Previous posts and much more information available from here:
http://www.mormonthink.com/joseph-smith-polygamy.htm
This is interesting:
“And if Joseph Smith 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 he is justified 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.” - Doctrine and Covenants 132:62-63
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