Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Chapter 2

Response to claims made in "Chapter 2" (pp. 52-107)


Chapter 1 (pp. 26-51)
A work by author: George D. Smith
 Chapter 2 (pp. 108-158)

53

Claim
  • Referring again to the Whitney letter, the author notes that Joseph "recommended his friend, whose seventeen-year-old daughter he had just married, should 'come a little a head, and nock…at the window.'"

Author's source(s)
  • Smith, Letter to "Brother and Sister [Newel K.] Whitney, and &c.," Nauvoo, Illinois, Aug. 18, 1842, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City.
Whitney "love letter" (edit) Ages of wives (edit)
  • See also ch. Preface: ix
  • See also ch. 1: 1, 22, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 44
  • See also ch. 2: 53
  • See also ch. 2a: 142-143
  • See also ch. 3: 198
  • See also ch. 6: 408
Response

53

Claim
  •  Author's quote: The prophet then poured out his heart, writing to his newest wife: "My feelings are so strong for you…now is the time to afford me succour….I know it is the will of God that you should comfort me now."

Author's source(s)
  • Whitney letter, Aug. 18, 1842.
Whitney "love letter" (edit) Response

53

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Emma Hale, Joseph's wife of fifteen years, had left his side just twenty-four hours earlier. Now Joseph declared that he was "lonesome," and he pleaded with Sarah Ann to visit him under cover of darkness. After all, they had been married just three weeks earlier.

Author's source(s)
  • Whitney letter, Aug. 18, 1842.
Whitney "love letter" (edit) Response

54

Claim
  •  Author's quote: “Did Sarah Ann keep this rendezvous on that humid summer night? Unfortunately, the documentary record is silent.” But “the letter survives to illuminate the complexity of Smith’s life in Nauvoo."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Whitney "love letter" (edit) Response

54

Claim
  • The author states that what interested him the most was how Joseph "went about courting…these women."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Womanizing & romance (edit) Response

55

Claim
  • It is claimed that when polygamy was officially abandoned in 1890, that "what previously had been called 'celestial marriage' was subtly redefined to specify something new: marriage performed in LDS temples for this life and for an expected eternal afterlife."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Necessary for salvation? (edit)
  • See also ch. Preface: xiv
  • See also ch. 1: 6
  • See also ch. 2: 55
  • See also ch. 6: 356
Response

55

Claim
  • Plural marriage is claimed to have originally been a "key principle" of exaltation, "but by adaption, celestial marriage was still said to be required, only now it meant monogamy rather than polygamy."

Author's source(s)
Necessary for salvation? (edit)
  • See also ch. Preface: xiv
  • See also ch. 1: 6
  • See also ch. 2: 55
  • See also ch. 6: 356
Response

55

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Despite his crowded daily schedule, the prophet interrupted other activities for secret liaisons with women and girls…."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Womanizing & romance (edit) Response

55

Claim
  • The author notes that Joseph "assured the women and their families that such unions were not only sanctioned but were demanded by heaven and fulfilled the ethereal principle of 'restoration.'"

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

56

Claim
  • The author assumes that "[t]here may have been even more wives and plural children."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Fallacy of probability (edit)
  • See also ch. 2: 56
  • See also ch. 2a: 111
Response

57

Claim
  • The author notes that History of the Church says nothing about Nauvoo on the day of Louisa Beaman's marriage to Joseph.

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Censorship of Church History (edit) Response

63

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "As will be seen, conjugal visits appear furtive and constantly shadowed by the threat of disclosure."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Whitney "love letter" (edit) Response
  • This is pure assumption on the part of the author—he provides no such evidence save his own repeated representation of the Whitney letter.

65

Claim
  •  Author's quote: “when Joseph requested that Sarah Ann Whitney visit him and ‘nock at the window,’ he reassured his new young wife that Emma would not be there, telegraphing his fear of discovery if Emma happened upon his trysts.”

Author's source(s)
  • No citation given
  •  History unclear or in error
Whitney "love letter" (edit) Response

65

Claim
  • The author claims that "[o]ne of the instrumental people in the inauguration of plural marriage was John [C.] Bennett…."

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • A huge leap, presuming that Bennett's adulteries were ever sanctioned by Joseph, or had anything to do with plural marriage.
  • John C. Bennett

65

Claim
  • The author notes that in 1841, John C. Bennett was Joseph Smith's "closest confident."  [ATTENTION!]

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • Ignores that Joseph began to distrust him for cause long before their public rupture.
  • John C. Bennett

65

Claim
  • It is claimed that Joseph was "sharing power" with Bennett.

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • Bennett's power was mainly secular. He did little in the religious realm. Joseph had wanted to be relieved of temporal responsibilities, and Bennett was available.
  • John C. Bennett

65

Claim
  • It is claimed that in 1842, John C. Bennett spoke out against Joseph "and was soon stripped of his offices and titles."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • Bennett was guilty of serial immoralities, and had been disciplined on multiple occasions. He only "spoke out" once he learned that he was to be stripped of membership in the Church.
  • The author has cause and effect reversed, perhaps because he doesn't want us to know of the overwhelming evidence of Bennett's guilt.
  • John C. Bennett

65

Claim
  • It is claimed that John C. Bennett and Joseph each "accused the other of immoral behavior."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • Bennett was accused by far more people, over a far greater length of time, of "immoral behavior." Many of his accusers were not LDS and had nothing to do with the Mormons.
  • Bennett only began to accuse Joseph once his own crimes were repeatedly revealed.
  • John C. Bennett

65

Claim
  • The author attempts to rehabilitate John C. Bennett by claiming: "While some of his claims may have been exaggerations, much of what he reported can be confirmed by other eyewitness accounts."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • Many of Bennett's claims are clearly false.
  • The author uses Bennett uncritically, and naively.
  • The things which Bennett can "confirm" are mostly things like names of people Joseph married.
  • Bennett also clearly forged some material from others.
  • John C. Bennett

65

Claim
  • Yet more attempt to make Bennett a credible witness: "Even though his statements must be weighed critically, he cannot be merely dismissed as an unfriendly source who fabricated scandal."

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • The author never does this weighing for us.
  • Much of what he writes, after analysis, must be dismissed as fabrication or exaggeration, however.
  • Even anti-Mormon authors warned of Bennett's problems:
"There is, no doubt, much truth in Bennett's book…but no statement that he makes can be received with confidence." [1]

65

Claim
  • The author claims that "Bennett had an ambitious but colorful background."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • This hides a mountain of evidence about Bennett's pre-LDS behavior, including:
    • repeatedly using others' names to fraudulently support the establishment of medical colleges
    • selling bogus medical diplomas
    • selling bogus diplomas in other fields (e.g., law)
    • lying and misrepresentation
    • serial adulteries and infidelities
    • abandonment of wife and children
  • John C. Bennett

66-67

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Writing on March 23, 1846, Bennett claimed to have known 'Joseph better than any other man living for at least fourteen months!'….Bennett was well positioned to know all about any behind-the-scenes transactions.

Author's source(s)
  • Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 56.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • The author here accepts Bennett uncritically.
  • Despite his claim, he was never part of the inner circle which received the highest temple ordinances introduced by Joseph. Bennett and Rigdon "were conspicuously absent" when Joseph Smith spoke to those who would be among the first to receive the full endowment necessary "to finish their work and prevent imposition" by Satan.
  • Bennett had secular influence, but relatively little to do with religious matters in Nauvoo:
"Thus, the considerable embarrassment to Joseph Smith and Mormonism which some have inferred from Bennett's alleged duping of the Mormons is cast in a new light because Bennett himself so effectively refutes his own claim that he was a close confidant of Joseph Smith. Unwittingly, Bennett indisputably demonstrates that he was neither directly involved with the endowment, eternal marriage, nor plural marriage—the most significant private theological developments during Bennett's stay in Nauvoo. [2]

68

Claim
  • The author claims that Joseph is merely “feigning impartiality” before going on to practice “undemocratic block voting.”

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Bloc voting (edit)
  • See also ch. 1: 2
  • See also ch. 2: 68
  • See also ch. 4: 292–293
See NOTE on bloc voting Response
  • Block voting is not undemocratic—many interest groups vote en masse for candidates which will meet their needs.
  • Joseph was not feigning when he said, "We care not a fig for a Whig or Democrat….We shall go for our friends." (p. 68) He was indicating that party made no difference to the Saints; what mattered is who would agree to defend them.
  • Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language

69

Claim
  • The author notes that Joseph was apparently "undeterred" by reports of a negative assessment of Bennett, and proceeded to name him Assistant President of the Church.

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • Joseph knew from personal experience that "it is no uncommon thing for good men to be evil spoken against," and did nothing precipitous.
  • The accusations against Bennett gained credence when Joseph learned of his attempts to persuade a young woman "that he intended to marry her." Joseph dispatched Hyrum Smith and William Law to make inquiries, and in early July 1841 he learned that Bennett had a wife and children living in the east. Non-LDS sources confirmed Bennett's infidelity: one noted that he "heard it from almost every person in town that [his wife] left him in consequence of his ill treatment of her home and his intimacy with other women." Another source reported that Bennett's wife "declared that she could no longer live with him…it would be the seventh family that he had parted during their union."
  • John C. Bennett

69

Claim
  • It is noted that John C. Bennett was Assistant President of the Church.

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • Sidney Rigdon, a counselor in the First Presidency, was frequently ill. On April 8, "John C. Bennett was presented, with the First Presidency, as Assistant President until President Rigdon's health should be restored." Modern readers should be cautious in projecting the role of the current First Presidency on Joseph's day. In the modern Church, the First Presidency is almost always composed of two apostles who have extensive experience in ecclesiastical affairs called to serve with the President. In Joseph's day, this was not the case. Most of Joseph's counselors in the First Presidency were to betray his trust, including Jesse Gause, Frederick G. Williams, Sidney Rigdon, William Law and John C. Bennett. While some of these counselors received keys, Bennett did not. None were apostles prior to their call.
  • John C. Bennett
  • Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Presentism

69

Claim
  • It is claimed that John C. Bennett had religious influence by being Assistant President of the Church.

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • [This is not stated baldly, but some readers might be confused.]
  • With few exceptions, Bennett "played little role in church conferences. There might have been an unofficial division of labor between Bennett and Smith. Smith handled church affairs; Bennett took the lead in secular matters."
  • John C. Bennett

70

Claim
  • The author claims that Joseph Smith and John C. Bennett remained confidants until about March the next year (1842)

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
  •  History unclear or in error
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • Bennett was confronted with the charges mentioned above in the summer of 1841.
  • When confronted with these charges, Bennett broke down and confessed. Emma's nephew, Lorenzo D. Wasson, claimed to have been upstairs and heard Joseph "give J. C. Bennett a tremendous flagellation for practicing iniquity under the base pretence of authority from the heads of the church." Claiming to be mortified at the idea of public censure, Bennett took poison in a suicide gesture, but recovered.
  • John C. Bennett

70

Claim
  • It is claimed that there seemed to be "no office or honor within reach that Smith did not hasten to grant to Bennett."

Author's source(s)
  •  History unclear or in error
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • This is false: Bennett was never inducted into the "Quorum of the Anointed"—those who were receiving the temple endowment from Joseph (see above, 66-67).
  • He was also never made an apostle.
  • John C. Bennett

70

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Zina Huntington, who married Henry Jacobs instead but then reconsidered seven months later in response to Joseph's restated interest."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

70-71 - "Joseph soon after married Zina's sister, Presendia, who was also already married"

The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:

 Author's quote: "Seemingly impatient, Joseph soon after married Zina's sister, Presendia, who was also already married."

Author's sources: No source provided.

FAIR's Response

Question: What did the husband of Presendia L. Huntington know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?

Presendia's husband Norman left the Church, and since she was unable to be sealed for eternity to her earthly husband, she was sealed to Joseph Smith instead

Presendia Huntington was married to Norman Buell when she was sixteen years old. Both Presendia and Norman originally joined the Church, but Norman later left it while Presendia remained a believing member. Since she was unable to be sealed for eternity to her earthly husband, she was sealed to Joseph Smith instead. Presendia's 1881 biography notes her husband's rejection of the Church as the reason she decided to be sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity,

I was maried to Norman Buell Jan 6th 1827. both joined the Church in in [sic] Kirtland Geauga Co Ohio he left the church in Mo in 1839 the Lord gave me strength to stand alone & keep the faith amid heavy persecution in 1841 I entered into the new & everlasting Covenant was sealed to Joseph Smith the Prophet & Seer & to the best of my ability I have honored Plural Marriage never speking one word against the principal. [3]

An affidavit signed by Presendia on May 1, 1869 states:

Be it remembered that on this first day of May A.D. 1869 personally appeared before me Elias Smith Probate Judge for Said County Presenda Lathrop Huntington \Kimball/ who was by me Sworn in due form of law and upon her oath saith, that on the eleventh day of December A.D. 1841, at the City of Nauvoo, County of Hancock State of Illinois, She was married or Sealed to Joseph Smith, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by Dimick B. Huntington, a High-Priest in Said Church, according to the laws of the Same regulating Marriage; in the presence of Fanny Maria Huntington. [4]

See Biography:
A biography of Presendia L. Huntington may be viewed on Brian and Laura Hales' website "josephsmithspolygamy.org".

71

Claim
  • The author notes that "Bennett alleged that during the summer and fall of 1841, Smith made unsuccessful advances toward Apostle Orson Pratt's wife, Sarah."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • The author does not tell us that Sarah and Bennett were probably having an affair, as witnessed by LDS and non-LDS witnesses, and a plausible time-line.
  • John C. Bennett

71

Claim
  • It is notes that "[w]hatever the accuracy of the quotes [i.e., Bennett's claims] the two men [Orson and Joseph] quarrelled…."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response
  • The author here avoids the necessity of dealing with the problems in Bennett's account.
  • John C. Bennett

71

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "…the important aspect of this incident is that it tells us less about Bennett's motive in recalling this dispute and more about Orson's willingness to support his wife over his religious leader…."

Author's source(s)
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • "Recalling" assumes that Bennett's account is truthful, and not fabricated. This has not been demonstrated.
  • John C. Bennett

71

Claim
  • The author concludes that Joseph believe that Sarah Pratt "had been wrong to reject him—and that she had failed the test. The defiance she exhibited ultimately led to alienation with her husband…."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • The author again says nothing about Sarah and Bennett's affair, which probably had something to do with her "alienation."
  • John C. Bennett

72

Claim
  • The author notes that Orson Pratt eventually accepted Joseph's explanation "that he merely wanted to test Sarah's obedience, and was not seriously courting this married woman."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response
  • The author does not tell us that Orson eventually believed Sarah and Bennett had misled him, saying he was first informed by "a wicked source, from those disaffected, but as soon as he learned the truth he was satisfied." [5] He presents no evidence for what explanation Joseph gave Orson, or what Orson believed.
  • John C. Bennett

72

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Meanwhile, Bennett seems to have followed his leader in courting several women himself."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • The author is here presuming that Bennett imitated Joseph.
  • Bennett was also involved in operating a prostitution ring and house of ill repute in Nauvoo. [6]
  • John C. Bennett

72

Claim
  • The author claims that John C. Bennett resigned from the church on May 17, 1842.

Author's source(s)
  • Andrew Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 86–89. (Note that The author does not properly represent the source's contents.)
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  •  History unclear or in error: In fact, Bennett was forced to resign by Joseph, who wrote to the Church recorder: "be so good as to permit Bennett to withdraw his name from the Church record, if he desires to do so, and this with the best of feelings towards…General Bennett." [7]
  • John C. Bennett

72

Claim
  • It is claimed that Bennett was excommunicated from the Church in "retaliation."

Author's source(s)
  •  History unclear or in error
  • Andrew Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 86–89.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • This was not in retaliation, since Joseph had pushed for Bennett's resignation.
  • A high council trial of Chauncey Higbee concluded on May 24, at which it became clear that Higbee had been seducing women under Bennett's direction.
  • Bennett was told that his withdrawal from the Church would be made public. Bennett once more begged for mercy, claiming that public exposure would distress his mother. [8] Joseph again deferred a public announcement, and Bennett would soon also make confession to the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge. Weeping, Bennett pleaded for leniency, with Joseph as his advocate. [9] Even Joseph's patience had an end, however. It soon became clear that still other members had used Bennett's arguments to seduce women—his excommunication was made public on 15 June. The Masonic Lodge published Bennett's crimes the next day. [10] His Nauvoo reputation in tatters, Bennett left and began plotting his revenge.
  • John C. Bennett

72

Claim
  • John C. Bennett claimed that his excommunication was postdated to May 11 to appear that it had occurred before his resignation.

Author's source(s)
  • Andrew Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 86–89.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • See also ch. 2a: 119
(The author later acts as if this claim of Bennett's is established fact.)
  • The author mischaracterizes his source, and does not tell us that Bennett's claim was false. Bennett's biographer wrote:
"On May 11 Smith and several others signed a statement to disfellowship Bennett….
"According to Bennett, three of the signatories were not in Nauvoo on that date….
"[However] William Law, one of the signatories…testified that he signed it on the evening of May 11. Some four or five days later Law had a conversation with Bennett 'and intimated to him that such a thing was concluded upon.'…The best explanation for this matter is that Joseph Smith had the disfellowship document drawn up on May 11 Those who were in Nauvoo were asked to sign it….As others returned to the city, they added their names." (Andrew Smith, Saintly Scoundrel, 86, 100).

73

Claim
  • The author claims that up until early 1842, Joseph Smith and John C. Bennett "seemed to be on good terms."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response

73

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "It is entirely plausible that Bennett was then privy to Smith's domestic matters."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • The author wants to rehabilitate Bennett as a source, while glossing over the problems.
  • John C. Bennett

73

Claim
  • The author notes that "[i]n the spring of 1842, the two men quarreled and Smith had Bennett excommunicated…."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
John C. Bennett (edit) Response
  • Joseph and Bennett did not "quarrel"—evidence of further seduction and infidelity by Bennett came to light.
  • Bennett was given the chance to resign, and did so.
  • Further disclosure to the high council led to Bennett's exposure and excommunication.
  • John C. Bennett

75

Claim
  • Zina and Henry Jacobs "were apparently willing to let the prophet insinuate himself into their marriage."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

75

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "In the context of having just married a pregnant wife, [Joseph's] words acquire added meaning: 'If you will not accuse me, I will not accuse you….'"

Author's source(s)
  • History of the Church 4:445.
Response
  • The author implies that sexuality was involved in this polyandrous marriage.
  • He tries to prejudice the reader by pointing out that Zina was pregnant when she and Henry approved her sealing to Joseph.
  • Full details: Wyatt, "Zina and Her Men."

75

Claim
  • It is noted that Joseph's diary and the History of the Church do not "give any hint of conjugal contacts Smith might have had with this wife."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Censorship of Church History (edit) Response
  • There is no evidence anywhere for any conjungal contact. The author has repeatedly mentioned that a given event is not recorded in the History of the Church, and so can here imply that there might be evidence of "conjugal contacts," but the Smith diary and History are hiding it. There is no evidence, period.
  • Church history/Censorship and revision
  • Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Censorship

75

Claim
  • The author claims that when Henry Jacobs returned from his mission in June 1844 that "he found Zina accompanying Joseph to private meetings involving Masonic-like handshakes, oaths, and special clothing."

Author's source(s)
  • MORE…. Zina D.H. Young, Journal, "June 5, 6, 7, 8, 9," 1844, Zina Card Brown Collection; see Bradley and Woodward, Four Zinas, 124.
  • CHECK THIS SOURCE!!
Response

77

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Even though Zina was pregnant with Henry's child when she married Joseph, the theology of 'sealing' meant that in the next life she and her children would be Joseph's 'eternal possessions,' unconnected to Henry.

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Sealing takes away families? (edit)
  • See also ch. 2: 77
  • See also ch. 3: 234
Response
  • The author gives no evidence for this. It may be that some early sealings (especially polyandrous ones) were intended to bind families to each and Joseph in salvation in the next world.
  • The image which this gives of Joseph "taking away" Henry's children is inflammatory and probably misleading.
  • Polygamy/The Law of Adoption
  • Full details: Wyatt, "Zina and Her Men."

77

Claim
  • The author claims that "[s]ome sources say [Brigham] Young advised [Henry Jacobs] to find a wife who could be his eternal partner."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response
  • This from a single source (not "sources") and comes from a virulently anti-Mormon work, William Hall, Abominations of Mormonism Exposed (Cincinnati: I. Hart & Co., 1852), 43–44.
  • Besides being hostile, this source has numerous problems which make it implausible.
  • Full details: Wyatt, "Zina and Her Men."

77

Claim
  • Henry's subsequent life is not discussed by the author, perhaps because it would provide insight into why Zina chose to remain with Brigham.

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

78

Claim
  • Brigham Young said that "if a woman can find a man holding the keys of the priesthood with higher power and authority than her husband, and he is disposed to take her, he can do so, otherwise she has got to remain where she is. In either of these ways of sep[a]ration, you can discover, there is no need for a bill of divorcement."

Author's source(s)
  • Brigham Young, "A few words of Doctrine," Oct 8, 1861, LDS Archives.
Brigham Young's 8 October 1861 talk (edit)
  • See also ch. 2: 78
  • See also ch. 8: 541
Response
  • The author omits key parts of Brigham's recorded discourse: "…if a man magnifies his priesthood, observing faithfully his covenants to the end of his life, all the wives and children sealed to him, all the blessings and honors promised to him in his ordinations and sealing blessings are immutably and eternally fixed; no power can wrench them from his possession. You may inquire, in case a wife becomes disaffected with her husband, her affections lost, she becomes alienated from him and wishes to be the wife of another, can she not leave him? I know of no law in heaven or on earth by which she can be made free while her husband remains faithful and magnifies his priesthood before God and he is not disposed to put her away, she having done nothing worthy of being put away."
  • Brigham Young 8 October 1861 discourse on plural marriage
  • Full details: Wyatt, "Zina and Her Men."

79

Claim
  • Presendia Buell is claimed to have "displayed an affinity for mystical religious experiences as one of the women who began speaking and singing in tongues…."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Presendia Buell (edit) Response

79

Claim
  • It is claimed that Presendia Buell "did not take the prophet's advice [to leave for Illinois while he was in Liberty Jail] prior to his escape from jail on April 16. Nine months later, on January 31, 1841, she gave birth to a son Oliver. Later that year [she went to Illinois]….."

Author's source(s)
Presendia Buell (edit) Response
  • The main text clearly implies that Joseph was the father of Prescendia's son Norman. Else, why mention that "nine months later" she had a child, with no further comment?
  • Smith disguises the fact that DNA evidence has proved that Oliver was not Joseph's son.
  • Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Children of polygamous marriages
  • Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)

80 n. 63

Claim
  • Fawn Brodie pointed out that Oliver was born at least a year after Presendia's husband left the church and that Oliver had the angular features and high forehead of the Smith line (No Man Knows, 2989ff, 301, 460).[Note continues below]

Author's source(s)
  • See left column
Response

80 n. 63

Claim
  • [Continued from above] Compton considered it improbable that Joseph and Presendia would have found time together during the brief window opportunity after his release from prison in Missouri (Sacred Loneliness, 670, 673)."[Note continues below]

Author's source(s)
  • See left column
Presendia Buell (edit) Response

80 n. 63

Claim
  • [Note continued from above]"….There is no DNA connection (Carrie A. Moore, “DNA tests rule out 2 as Smith descendants: scientific advances prove no genetic link,” Deseret Morning News, 10 November 2007). Compton finds it "unlikely, though not impossible, that Joseph Smith was the actual father" of John Hiram, born November 1843; Presendia's last child during her marriage to Norman Buell. (Sacred Loneliness, 124, 670–71)."

Author's source(s)
  • See left column
Presendia Buell (edit) Response

81

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Occasionally, as King David did with Uriah the Hittite, Smith sent the husband [of potential polyandrous marriage partners] away on a mission which provided the privacy needed for a plural relationship to flower."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response
  • Unmentioned—but perhaps not unimplied—is the fact that David had already committed adultery with Bathsheba, and sought to have her husband killed so he could marry her (see 2 Samuel 11). This metaphor imputes motives to Joseph where no textual evidence exists.
  • Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading
  • Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)

81

Claim
  • "This [see above] applied to Zina…."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response
  • Henry Jacobs was present at the sealing to Zina. Henry knew of Joseph's plural proposal to Joseph before their marriage.
  •  Internal contradiction: compare p. 75
  • Zina and Henry Jacobs
  • Full details: Wyatt, "Zina and Her Men."

82

Claim
  • The author notes that the History of the Church "makes no mention of the second Huntington nuptial…."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Censorship of Church History (edit) Response

82

Claim
  • The author notes a Buell child being sealed to a proxy for Joseph with “wording [that] hints that it might have been Smith’s child….It is not clear…which of her children it might have been."

Author's source(s)
  • Oliver Huntington Journal, Nov 14, 1884, USHS; see Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 140, 673.
Response

84

Claim
  • The author notes: "From the inception of plural marriage, Smith demanded confidentiality from those whom he taught the principle."

Author's source(s)
  • History of the Church 4:479; Woodruff Journals 2:143.
Hiding polygamy (edit)
  • See also ch. 1: 3-4 and 51
  • See also ch. 4: 247
Response

85

Claim
  • The author assumes that Joseph "evidently adapted and redefined [elements] from the Masonic rituals and incorporated [them] as part of the unfolding Mormon temple ceremonies."

Author's source(s)
  • No source given.
Response

85

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "The [temple] vows of secrecy and threats of blood penalties intensified the mysterious rites of celestial marriage…."

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion.
Temple (edit)
  • See also ch. 2: 75 and 85
  • See also ch. 2a: 114
Response

88

Claim
  • The author notes that there is no mention of Joseph's sealing to Agnes Smith in the History of the Church.

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Censorship of Church History (edit) Response

92

Claim
  • Sarah Pratt is claimed to have reported in 1886 that Lucinda had told her nearly forty-five years earlier in 1842: "Why[,] I am his [Smith's] mistress since four years."

Author's source(s)
  • Wyl, Mormon Portraits, 60.
Lucinda Harris (edit)
  • See also ch. 1: 33 and 44
  • See also ch. 2: 92
Response
  • Compton notes that this statement is "antagonistic, third-hand, and late" (In Sacred Loneliness, 650). It seems implausible that Harris would admit to being a "mistress."
  • Newel and Avery, Mormon Enigma, 346 have likewise seen the "mistress" label as "an embellishment by either Sarah Pratt or W. Wyl."
  • The author provides none of this perspective.
  • Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language

99

Claim
  • The author notes that "[a]s usual, the History of the Church made no mention of Sylvia [Sessions Lyon] on February 8, 1842…."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Censorship of Church History (edit) Response

100

Claim
  • The author claims that "[d]uring these years as Windsor's wife, Sylvia reportedly bore Smith a child in 1844…."

Author's source(s)
Response
  • The author ignores Brian C. Hales, “The Joseph Smith–Sylvia Sessions Plural Sealing: Polyandry or Polygyny?” Mormon Historical Studies 9/1 (Spring 2008): 41–57, which argues that Sylvia considered herself divorced prior to marrying Joseph polygamously, contrary to evidence misread by Compton.
  • Joseph_Smith/Polygamy/Children_of_polygamous_marriages

103

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Typically, [Joseph] never mentioned his marriage to Patty [Sessions] on paper…."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Censorship of Church History (edit) Response

105

Claim
  • It is claimed that Sarah Cleveland's husband "was a Swedenborgian, embracing a world view compatible with that of Mormons."

Author's source(s)
  • Biography of Sarah Maryetta Kingsley, LDS Archives.
Response
  • These needs more argument than the author gives it. It is not clear how being a Swedenborgian would predispose Cleveland to accept a modern prophet, new scripture, and restored priesthood authority (for example).
  • Surely any world-view was somewhat compatible with the Mormons', but what about Cleveland's views were more compatible than, say, other Christians?
  • Plan of salvation/Three degrees of glory/Swedenborg

106

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "John Cleveland's Swedenborgian faith might have helped prepare Sarah for some of Joseph's teachings. Like Smith, followers of Emanuel Swedenborg conceived of a pre-existent life, 'eternal marriage' for couples who had a true 'affinity' for each other, and a three-tiered heaven that required marriage for admission to the highest level."

Author's source(s)
  • Author's speculation.
  • Emanuel Swedenborg, Heaven and Hell, trans. George F. Dole (West Chester, Pa.: Swedenborg Foundation, 2002), 18–32.
  • CHECK THIS SOURCE! [needs work]
Response

106

Claim
  • The author notes that John Cleveland's continued willingness to host LDS events "indicated a likely compatibility of beliefs."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response
  • There are other options:
    • Perhaps Cleveland was simply a tolerant man?
    • Perhaps he respected the Mormons for what he had seen of them personally?
    • Perhaps he respected his wife's desire to practice her own faith, despite not sharing it.

106

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Like some of the other husbands of women who agreed to marry the prophet, John Cleveland nevertheless became 'more and more bitter towards the Mormons.'"

Author's source(s)
  • Sarah Cleveland to August Lyman, 1847, John Lyman Smith Collection, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, cited by Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 284.
Response
  • The author does not tell the reader that this difficulty did not occur until after Joseph's death, and the Saints had gone west. He neglects to point out that Compton noted that even six months before Joseph's death, Sarah's husband was "very friendly and frequently visited the Prophet." (Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 281).
  • Thus, the implication that Joseph's plural marriage caused problems for Cleveland is not sustained by the evidence.
  • The author also does not tell us that one version of Sarah's decision to remain behind instead of going to Utah reads:
"Brigham Young and council…counciled her to stay with her Husband as he was a good man, having shown himself kind ever helping those in need, although for some reason his mind was darkened as to the Gospel. She obey[ed] the council and stayed with her Husband, and was faithfull and true to her religion and died a faithfull member of the Church…." (Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 283).

106

Claim
  • Besides Cleveland (see above) other polyandrous husbands are claimed to have become more bitter against the Church.

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response
  • As shown above, Cleveland was not bitter about the Church or Joseph during Joseph's lifetime.
  • No other examples are given. It is not clear to whom the author is referring.
  • Polygamy book/Polyandry

Notes


  1. ↑ T. B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints : A Full and Complete History of the Mormons.... (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1878 [1873]), 184 note.
  2. ↑ Andrew F. Ehat, "Joseph Smith's Introduction of Temple Ordinances and the 1844 Mormon Succession Question," (Master's Thesis, Brigham Young University, 1981), 40.
  3. ↑ Presenda Huntington Kimball, “Biographical Sketch,” 1881, MS 742, CHL, first copy page 2 and variant copy page 2. off-site
  4. ↑ Joseph F. Smith affidavit books, CHL 1:7. off-site
  5. ↑ George L. Mitton and Rhett S. James, "A Response to D. Michael Quinn's Homosexual Distortion of Latter-Day Saint History," FARMS Review of Books 10/1 (1998): footnote 70, citing T. Edgar Lyon, "Orson Pratt—Early Mormon Leader," (M.A. diss., University of Chicago, 1932), 31. See also Millennial Star 40 (16 December 1878): 788.
  6. ↑ [citation needed]
  7. ↑ Bennett, History of the Saints, 40–41.
  8. ↑ Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957). Volume 5 link
  9. ↑ Smith, History of the Church, 5:18 (26 May 1842).
  10. ↑ Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Knopf, 2005), 461.; see Times and Seasons 3/15 (15 June 1842): 830; Smith, History of the Church, 5:32.
Retrieved from "http://104.237.154.152/answers/index.php?title=Criticism_of_Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo_Polygamy/Chapter_2&oldid=129247"