Never Let the Truth Get in the Way of a Good “Faith promoting” Story: The ongoing alteration of LDS Church History
IN ORDER TO TAKE PEOPLE CAPTIVE, ALL THAT IS REQUIRED IS FOR PEOPLE TO BE CONTENT WITH THEIR IGNORANCE. IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR THE DEVIL TO CONVINCE YOU OF LIES, ONLY FOR HIM TO MAKE YOU CONTENT IN YOUR IGNORANCE OR FEARFUL OF THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH.
One of the criticisms of those who do not agree with our conclusions regarding Joseph
Smith and polygamy, that he was innocent of it and tried to eradicate it from the early
Restoration church, is that in order to create the massive evidence that exists “proving”
That he initiated it, taught it, and practiced it, dozens, if not hundreds and thousands of people would have to be in on the lie.
As we have studied LDS Church history, we have found that many historical traditions grew out of a desire to protect The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints narrative and to promote faith in their succession as the rightful heirs to Joseph’s restoration.
It is not only polygamy, or plural marriage, that has gone through alterations. Many other doctrines and traditions have been subject to changes, including tithing, priesthood, temple ceremonies, and others some of which were simply men’s additions or subtractions to truth which have been carried down to our day.
Conspiracies DO exist. They began with Cain, were evident in Joseph Smith’s day, and continue today. We desire to understand our LDS history through searching, studying, and analyzing documents in context, not merely theorizing. We are in a search for truth-we want to come to know God through discerning truth in a world filled with falsehoods, lies, and contradictions.
Each of us can search out a matter for ourselves (Proverbs 25:2) – we do not need to rely upon “experts” to tell us how to interpret our history, or what to believe, regarding it.
Joseph did it, Joseph did not do it, Joseph did it: claims regarding Joseph’s “polygamy” have shifted and altered throughout time
Joseph “had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel,
before it was reported that [he] had seven wives” (WJS, pp. 374-377).
Official quote from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “Recognizing that today so much information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be obtained from questionable and often inaccurate sources, officials of the Church began in 2013 to publish straightforward, in-depth essays on a number of topics.”
SAINTS
IN 2018 THE FIRST PRESIDENCY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS BEGAN PUBLISHING THE FIRST OF WHAT WILL EVENTUALLY BE A 4 VOLUME SET ON THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
The Preface to Saints states: “True stories well told can inspire, caution, entertain, and instruct. Brigham Young understood the power of a good story when he counseled Church historians to do more than simply record the dry facts of the past. “Write in a narrative style,” he advised them, and “write only about one tenth part as much” (Woodruff, Journal, Oct. 20, 1861).
SAINTS IS “A NARRATIVE HISTORY DESIGNED TO GIVE READERS A FOUNDATIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF CHURCH HISTORY. . . . SAINTS IS NOT SCRIPTURE, BUT LIKE THE SCRIPTURES, EACH VOLUME CONTAINS DIVINE TRUTH AND STORIES OF IMPERFECT PEOPLE TRYING TO BECOME SAINTS THROUGH THE ATONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST.”
While Joseph was alive truth was altered by those who wanted to promote their own agendas
Doctrine and Covenants, 1835, Section 101, p. 251, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 7, 2023, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/doctrine-and-covenants-1835/259#XD4B4D998-901F-440D-8768-5E54D7CAC8C8
Doctrine and Covenants, 1844, Section 109, p. 438, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 7, 2023, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/doctrine-and-covenants-1844/440#XD6FBA1B4-5B9A-4A09-A62C-288A4EFEDB52
The 1844 edition matches the 1835 edition almost word for word and character for character, except for minor corrections and stylistic changes with very few substantive changes.
The Law of the Church on Marriage was published numerous times in the Church’s newspaper, Times and Seasons, as a reminder to the saints and to non-Mormons alike, the Lord’s directive on marriage. One such instance was published while Joseph Smith was editor of the Times and Seasons:
“Inasmuch as the public mind has been unjustly abused through the fallacy of Dr. Bennett's letters, we make an extract on the subject of marriage, showing the rule of the church on this important matter. The extract is from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and is the only rule allowed by the church.
‘All legal contracts of marriage made before a person is baptized into this church, should be held sacred and fulfilled. Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again. It is not right to persuade a woman to be baptized contrary to the will of her husband neither is it lawful to influence her to leave her husband.’” (Times and Seasons, Vol. 3, No. 21, [September 1, 1842], p. 909)
Joseph was editor from about February to November 1842.
Questionable, contemporaneous “evidence” is used today as “proof” Joseph was a polygamist
Contemporaneous: existing, occurring, or originating during the same time
Contemporaneous evidence” means evidence (usually written) that was created at or very soon after the same time as the event it records.
In the past, scholars and historians alike have admitted, when pressed, that no reliable contemporaneous evidence exists that proves Joseph was a polygamist.
However, within the past few years, that is changing. Today, scholars and historians believe that everyone’s statements bear equal weight and are thereby true. This means that traitors to Joseph, such as John C. Bennett, Oliver Olney, and William Law and the Nauvoo Expositor posse, are now considered witnesses who provide reliable proof of Joseph’s culpability in the plural marriage doctrine.
John C. Bennett used Joseph’s name to lend legitimacy to his sexual seductions
During the Nauvoo years, the rumors and innuendos that Joseph and other “heads of the church” were involved in polygamy increased in frequency and intensity. Men such as John C. Bennett, assistant in the First Presidency and Nauvoo City mayor, used Joseph’s name to seduce susceptible women, saying that Joseph taught, approved of, and gave his consent to sexual liaisons between unmarried partners. When caught and confronted, John C. Bennett admitted that he had lied when he used Joseph’s name.
STATE OF ILLINOIS, }
CITY OF NAUVOO. } Personally appeared before me, Daniel H. Wells, an Alderman of said city of Nauvoo, John C. Bennett, who being duly sworn according to law, deposeth and saith: that he never was taught any thing in the least cantrary [contrary] to the strictest principles of the Gospel, or of virtue, or of the laws of God, or man, under any occasion either directly or indirectly, in word or deed, by Joseph Smith; and that he never knew the said Smith to countenance any improper conduct whatever, either in public or private; and that he never did teach to me in private that an illegal illicit intercourse with females was, under any circumstances, justifiable, and that I never knew him so to teach others.
JOHN C. BENNETT.
Sworn to, and subsceibed [subscribed], before me, this 17th day of May, 1842.
DANIEL H. WELLS, Alderman. (Times and Seasons, Vol. 3, No. 19, [August 1, 1842], p. 871)
It is apparent in articles and affidavits printed in the
Times and Seasons in Nauvoo in 1842 what Joseph,
Hyrum, and other “heads of the church” felt about
Bennett: he was a scoundrel, a liar, and a traitor to his wife and children, to Joseph, the Church, and to God.
Today, in Saints: The Standard of Truth, published in
2018, the authors now say this about John C. Bennett:
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/times-and-seasons-1-august-1842/6
He professed the greatest fidelity, and eternal friendship, yet was he an adder in the path, and a viper in the bosom. He professed to be virtuous and chaste, yet did he pierce the heart of the innocent, introduce misery and infamy into families, reveled in voluptuousness and crime, and led the youth that he had influence over to tread in his unhallowed steps;—he professed to fear God, yet did he desecrate his name, and prostitute his authority to the most unhallowed and diabolical purposes; even to the seduction of the virtuous, and the defiling of his neighbor’s bed. He professed indignation against Missouri saying, “my hand shall avenge the blood of the innocent;” yet now he calls upon Missouri to come out against the Saints, and he “will lead them on to glory and to victory.”
Today, in Saints: The Standard of Truth, published in
2018, the authors now say this about John C. Bennett:
Vol. 1, Chapter 38, p. 458 “In the early weeks of May [1842], several women had accused Mayor
John Bennett of appalling acts. In the presence of a city alderman, they told Hyrum that John had
come to them in secret insisting that it was not sinful to have a sexual relationship with him as long
as they told no one. Calling his practice “spiritual wifery,” John had lied to them, assuring them that
Joseph approved of such behavior.
At first, the women had refused to believe John. But he insisted and had his friends swear to the women that he was telling the truth. If he was lying, he said, the sin would fall squarely on him. And if they became pregnant, he promised that as a physician, he would perform an abortion. The women eventually gave in to John—and to a few of his friends when they came making similar requests.”
Then, in Chapter 40 on page 485 the authors wrote this: “[1843] The Saints continued to defend Joseph against the accusations in John Bennett’s exposé. Much of what John had written was embellished or flatly untrue, but his claim that Joseph had married multiple women was correct. Unaware of this fact, Hyrum Smith and William Law fiercely denied all of John’s statements and unwittingly condemned the actions of Saints who obediently practiced plural marriage.
This made Brigham Young uneasy. As long as members of the First Presidency remained unaware of the practice, he believed, their condemnation of polygamy could prevent Joseph and others from fulfilling the commandment of the Lord.
Joseph had already tried without success to teach his brother and William about plural marriage. . . . Brigham could see that Hyrum’s and William’s actions exhausted Joseph.” (emphasis in bold italics added)
Oliver Olney
Oliver Olney (1796-after 1845) was excommunicated from the Church in 1842. Olney kept a difficult-to-decipher journal where he recorded his reflections about events in 1842 Nauvoo. Olney first alleged that some members of the Twelve were engaging in illicit behavior with women. Later, he referenced rumors of plural wives. At one point, he charged Joseph Smith with being “passionately fond of women.” After his excommunication, Olney published an anti-Mormon pamphlet titled The Absurdities of Mormonism Portrayed wherein he accused Joseph of printing a document called The Peace Maker.[1] In 1845 Olney published an exposé on polygamy titled Spiritual Wifery at Nauvoo Exposed.
[1] Times and Seasons Vol. 4, December 1, 1842.
The Peace Maker was a pro-polygamy tract which had been published by a man named Udney Jacob in 1842. Udney Jacob’s document was printed at the printing office in Nauvoo during a time when Joseph was in hiding to avoid extradition to Missouri. Because Joseph was the owner of the press his name was printed on the cover of Jacob’s pamphlet as “J Smith, Printer” which gave the obvious implication that Joseph approved of the pamphlet. However, upon learning of it, Joseph responded unequivocally: “There was a book printed at my office, a short time since, written by Udney H. Jacobs, on marriage, without my knowledge; and had I been apprised of it, I should not have printed it; not that I am opposed to any man enjoying his privileges; but I do not wish my name associated with the authors, in such an unmeaning rigamarole of nonsense, folly, and trash. JOSEPH SMITH.” In March 1851, Udney Jacob wrote a letter to Brigham Young stating that he was the author of The Peace Maker, “…I wrote a pamphlet some years since entitled the Peace Maker—you have certainly a wrong idea of that matter. I was not a member of this Church, and that pamphlet was not written for this people but for the citizens of the United States who professed to believe in the Bible.” (See Brigham Young University Studies 9 [Autumn 1968]: 52-53).
The Peace Maker
William Law and the Nauvoo Expositor
Michelle has done three incredible podcasts exposing the truth on this subject with one more to come.
Exposing the Expositor part 1, The Players https://youtu.be/ndAtZR3kUzo?si=VvPO3QACtqUgWkrS
Exposing the Expositor part 2: Polygamy, Game Over
https://youtu.be/fCjAOUxNzso?si=28slg3316SgdCEXf
Exposing the Expository part 3: Destruction and Martyrdom
https://youtu.be/ac_bW82iivA?si=kVbkUHlWGVdBkWQd
The Nauvoo Female Relief Society
On March 17, 1842, Emma Smith founded the Nauvoo Female Relief Society, one of the primary purposes of which was to strengthen and promote virtue and chastity among the women.
“[T]he meeting was address’d by Prest. [Joseph] Smith, to illustrate the object of the Society— that the Society of Sisters might provoke the brethren to good works in looking to the wants of the poor— searching after objects of charity, and in administering to their wants— to assist; by correcting the morals and strengthening the virtues of the female community.”
Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, p. 7, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 8, 2023, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book/30
Much Important Instruction was given to the women of the Relief Society
May 26, 1842 Emma said that “sin must not be covered, especially those sins which are against the law of God. . . Any knowing of heinous sins against the law of God, and refuse to expose them, becomes the offender – said she wanted non in this Society who had violated the laws of virtue.”
June 23, 1842 Emma proposed that the women of the Society write a “circular” to express their feelings in reference to John C. Bennett that the true situation of matters might be presented.
September 28, 1842 An epistle written and signed by Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Vinson Knight, and Brigham Young on March 31, 1842 was read to the Relief Society. The epistle asked the women to help fight the iniquitous beliefs which were secretly spreading throughout the city. The women were advised not to believe in anything that came from any man if it was contrary to the “old established morals & virtues & scriptural laws.” Furthermore, the epistle stated that “all persons pretending to be authoriz’d by us, or having any permit, or sanction from us, are & will be liars & base impostors, & you are authoriz’d on the very first intimation of the kind, to denounce them as such, & shun them as the flying fiery serpent, whether they are prophets, Seers, or revelators; Patriarchs, twelve apostles, Elders, Priests, Mayers, Generals, City Councillors, Aldermen, Marshalls, Police, Lord Mayors or the Devil, are alike culpable & shall be damned for such evil practices; and if you yourselves adhere to anything of the kind, you also shall be damned.”
February 1844 The Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo was penned under the direction of Emma Smith. It was read to several overflowing meetings of the Society where it was accepted unanimously
After Joseph and Hyrum's murders, Brigham Young disbanded the Relief Society. The Society never met again in Nauvoo. John Taylor, who became president of the church in October 1880, recalled that in Nauvoo “much disturbance arose among the Sisters.” According to Taylor, “Sister Emma . . . made use of the position she held to try to pervert the minds of the sisters” and “taught the Sisters that the principle of Celestial Marriage [plural marriage] as taught and practiced by Joseph Smith the prophet was not of God.” This, Taylor commented, was “the reason why the Relief Society did not continue” (“Relief Society Report,” Relief Society Record, July 17, 1880; “R.S. Reports,” 53–54; Harrisville Ward, Farr West Stake, General Minutes, 1850–1977, CHL, vol. 14, June 29, 1881).
While the Relief Society was originally completely autonomous from men and priesthood leadership and authority, today the LDS Church has put the Society under the Priesthood. In Saints, Vol. 1, p. 448 the authors claim that Joseph stated, “I will organize the women under the priesthood, after the pattern of the priesthood. I now have the key by which I can do it.”
DEEDS DEEDS DEEDS DEEDS DEEDS
April 6, 1843, the first day of the jubilee of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints a special conference assembled. Joseph spoke in the morning and again in the afternoon. In the afternoon speech, Joseph spoke of property and “deeds.” He said “My advice to the Mormons, who have deed & possessions, is fight it out. . . Deeds given by a court of chancery warrents & defends against all unlawful claims” (Joseph Smith, Journal, April 6, 1843)
In an effort to strengthen the Church and establish Zion, Joseph sold land through legal transactions called deeds to family members and to Saints.
or…Much ado about nothing
Deed to Emma Smith, June 13, 1842
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/deed-to-emma-smith-and-others-12-july-1843-draft/1
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/deed-to-emma-smith-and-others-12-july-1843/2?highlight=Deed%20to%20Emma%20Smith#source-note
Today, the legal land transactions enacted between Joseph Smith as “trustee
in trust” for the Church and hundreds of men and dozens of women are now
touted by “Joseph was a polygamist” proponents as the “pièce de ré·sis·tance, ”
the proverbial “nail in the coffin” proof. They claim that Joseph deeded land to women as a way to financially take care of his “plural wives.” (See The Smoking Gun that Joseph Smith Practiced Polygamy: Mormon Discussions Podcast 388).
The LDS Church today claims that Joseph’s deeds to his wife, Emma on July 12, 1843 were given to her to soothe her anger regarding the “polygamy” revelation.
In Saints, Volume 1, Chapter 41 it reads:
“Emma seemed especially worried about the future. What if Joseph’s enemies found out about plural marriage? Would he go to prison again? Would he be killed? She and the children depended on Joseph for support, but the family’s finances were entwined with the church’s. How would they get by if something happened to him?
Joseph and Emma wept as they spoke, but by the end of the day they had worked through their problems. To provide Emma additional financial security, Joseph deeded some property to her and their children. And after that fall, he entered into no more plural marriages.”
Hyrum’s deed
Deed to Hyrum Smith, 12 July 1843, Draft, p. 1, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 11, 2023, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/deed-to-hyrum-smith-12-july-1843-draft/1?highlight=deed%20hyrum%20smith%2012%20july%201843
Hyrum Smith’s Jacob 2 Sermon
May 14 [1843] attended [a] meeting at the Temple a.m. Hyrum Smith addressed the people - subjects from the book Mormon 2d chap Jacob remarked that - the book Mormon was a mirror, a key to the Bible - spoke of persecution as being one of the means of salvation - when persecution ceased, apt to forget the first commandment - said there were many that had a great deal to say about the ancient order of things as Solomon and David having many wifes & concubines — but it’s an abomination in the sight of god —- If an angel from heaven should come & preach such doctrine would be sure to see his cloven foot & cloud of blackness over his head,- though his garments might shine as white as snow - a man might have one wife, - concubines he should have none — observed that, the idea was, that this was given to Jacob for a perpetual principle . . . I am a plain man to God I am responsible I deal in plainness . . . I feel myself ashamed of such conduct amongst us trifling with property & chastity of one another —
Levi Richards papers, 1837-1867; Diaries; Volume 18, 1843 May 14-June 11; Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/e8d44719-6577-4503-86b8-1641367be6b9/0/3 (accessed: November 8, 2023)
What Joseph Fielding had to say about Jacob 2
and polygamy in the weeks following Joseph and
Hyrum’s deaths:
“I allude in particular to the doctrine of women being sealed to men for eternity. It seems that several have had women sealed to them, and it appears in general to have given great offense to the wife. In some instances their anger and resentment have risen to a very high pitch, saying it is abomination, whoredom, etc. This is a strong charge against Joseph especially, and Hyrum and now as they are gone it is aimed at the Twelve. A passage in the Book of Mormon is quoted in opposition to this Doctrine where it is said that a man should have but one Wife and no concubines, I feel sorry for our Women for it is plain that if this be of God as I believe it to be, their conduct in the matter is very wrong and but for the sealing power and ordinance by which they are sealed to their husbands, many would cut themselves off from the kingdom. My wife is much opposed to it. I desire to do the will of God and to obtain all the glory I can.”
Journal of Joseph Fielding, December 1843-March 1859, pp. 54-56
https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/fed88dc9-9446-43bf-9fb2-5577ca690893/0/54?lang=eng
Jacob 2: The LDS “Polygamy Loophole”
From the Gospel Topics Essay “Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah” it says this:
Latter-day Saints do not understand all of God’s purposes for instituting, through His prophets the practice of plural marriage during the 19th century. The Book of Mormon identifies one reason for God to command it: to increase the number of children born in the gospel covenant in order to “raise up seed unto [the Lord]” (Jacob 2:30).
From the Seminary manual Jacob 2:22-35 The Law of Chastity, it states:
Jacob’s teachings about plural marriage
After Jacob taught his people not to have more than one spouse at a time (see Jacob 2:27), he explained the conditions when the Lord may authorize plural marriage (see Jacob 2:30).
Plural marriage is authorized only when the Lord commands it through His prophet—the President of the Church—and through no one else (see Doctrine and Covenants 132:45–48). At certain times and places in the history of the world, the Lord has commanded His people to practice plural marriage.
Nauvoo Polygamists taught: Men with a “certain priesthood” can have as many wives as they please
Hyrum lamented that he was kept busy “answering foolish interrogations” regarding the idea that “a man having a certain priesthood may have as many wives as he pleases, and that doctrine is taught [in Nauvoo]” (Letter from Hyrum Smith to the brethren living on China Creek, Times and Seasons, Vol. 5, No. 6 [March 15, 1844], p. 474).
When a brother Richard Hewitt came to Nauvoo in March of 1844 from China Creek to inquire whether this teaching was true or not, Hyrum responded with an emphatic “No!” He wrote his response in a letter for Hewitt to take back to the China Creek branch. Hewitt stated years later his discussion with Hyrum and Hyrum’s response impressed so greatly upon him that he knew without a doubt that polygamy was not taught, sanctioned, or practiced by Joseph or Hyrum and that anyone who preached such stuff should be put down as a false prophet.
(See http://centerplace.org/history/ch/v2ch32.htm, p. 732).
The case of Hyrum Smith vs. Orsamus F. Bostwick
The Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo
Wherefore, while the marriage bed,
undefiled, is honorable, let
polygamy, bigamy, fornication,
Adultery, and prostitution, be
frowned out of the hearts of honest men to drop in the gulf of fallen
Nature, “where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched!” and let all the Saints say Amen!
https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/19559128-fd44-45f1-9142-3e6b22432d1f/0/2 (accessed: November 7, 2023)
What the JSP editors say about Bostwick
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/introduction-to-city-of-nauvoo-v-bostwick-bostwick-v-js-and-greene-and-bostwick-v-js/1?highlight=The%20Voice%20of%20Innocence
City of Nauvoo v. Bostwick
In late February 1844, Hyrum Smith filed a complaint before JS asserting that Bostwick had used “slanderous Language conering [concerning] Hyrum and certain f[e]males—of Nauvoo.” The allegation stemmed from rumors surrounding Smith’s confidential practice of plural marriage.. . According to Scott, Bostwick said he did not believe JS had “spiritual wives” but was convinced that his brother Hyrum did and that he had committed adultery with them. Hyrum Smith married his wife’s sister Mercy Fielding Thompson, widow of Robert B. Thompson, and Catherine Phillips in August 1843. (Mercy Fielding Thompson, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 19 June 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:34; Catharine Phillips Smith, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., UT, 28 Jan. 1903, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, CHL.)
Hyrum Smith and �The Damned Foolish Doctrine of Polygamy
On April 8, 1844, Hyrum spoke at a special meeting of the Elders held during the General Conference of the Church in Nauvoo.
In his sermon, Hyrum referred to polygamy as “a damned foolish doctrine.” He was emphatic that it was from the devil. He explained his own situation: Jerusha, his first wife, had passed away before the principle of eternal monogamous marriage had been restored. After Jerusha’s death, he had remarried a woman named Mary Fielding. In the spring of 1843, when he learned from Joseph that he could be sealed to a wife for eternity, he approached Mary about it. She chose to stand as a proxy for Jerusha in order that Hyrum could be sealed to his first wife.
Joseph’s journal recorded: A large collection of Elders assembled at the stand addressed by patriarch Hyrum Smith on Spiritual Wife system. The first one we hear reporting such stories, we will report him in the times and seasons to come 7 give up his license. He was decided against it in every form and spoke at length.
The editors of the Joseph Smith Papers Journal, December 1842-June 1844 colored Hyrum’s speech with their own bias - Joseph was a polygamist, therefore Hyrum was only cautioning the elders to avoid discussing the topic.
Hyrum spoke about how some of the elders had turned the truth of God into a lie, he was referring to men saying that he was sealed in an eternal marriage to both Jerusha and to Mary.
People turning the truth into a lie regarding both Joseph and Hyrum Smith happened to then in their day and it is happening to them again in ours.
404 Page Not Found
When I wrote my book, Hyrum Smith A Prophet Unsung, I quoted from and referred to Hyrum’s anti-polygamy sermon several times. At that time, the Joseph Smith Papers had digitized and made available Thomas Bullock’s notes on this sermon. A few months ago, it disappeared from the site. Now, when you enter the https address from my citation you are taken to a 404 page. Furthermore, if you search for Thomas Bullock’s report for the April 6-9 conference, this sermon of Hyrum’s is no longer on the site nor in the transcript
Another False Brigham Narrative
Susa Gates replaced Sidney Rigdon’s name with Brigham Young’s in a letter she was quoting from Mary Fielding to her sister, Mercy.
This misstatement by Ms. Gates has now been repeated in other works such as Don Corbett’s book Mary Fielding Smith: Daughter of Britain, published in 1966.
Mr. Corbett cited Susa Gates’ article rather than the original source, thus perpetuating the altered, incorrect narrative.
The original article written by Susa Gates was published in 1916 and can be found here: https://archive.org/details/reliefsocietymag03reli/page/124/mode/2up
Ann Eliza Webb
John Hamer, Community of Christ preacher, map maker, and historian was a guest on 132 Problems and used as “evidence” of Joseph’s polygamy the case of Ann Eliza Webb.
Ann Eliza Webb was born in Nauvoo on September 13, 1844. 2 ½ months AFTER Joseph was killed..
On April 7, 1868, at the age of 24, against her will she was married to Brigham Young. He was 66 years old at the time, an age difference of 42 years. Ann left Brigham Young and Mormonism, calling herself “Brigham Young’s Apostate Wife.” She wrote an expose on Mormonism titled Wife No. 19. She dedicated her book to the “Mormon Wives of Utah.”
The original letter reads: “…Having left Brother Joseph S and Rigdon about 20 miles from Fare Port to evade the Mobbers….their mad enemeys in every direction sometimes so closely the Br J was obliged to entreat Bro Rigdon after his exertion in running…to breath more softly if he meant to escape…”
Original letter written by Mary Fielding to her sister Mercy, August – September, 1837. Mary Fielding Smith collection, circa 1832-1848; Mary Fielding Smith letters to Mercy F. Thompson, 1833-1848; Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/40452f44-8728-49ad-815c-6b55b0a90fff/0/0?lang=eng (accessed: October 25, 2023)
Photo of Don Corbett’s book, Mary Fielding Smith, wherein he copied Susy Gates altered version of Mary’s letter which replaced Sidney Rigdon’s name with Brigham Young’s, thus perpetuating the altered history.
Brigham Young: Temple, and Mansion, Builder
On the LDS Church’s website under the tab Church History is an article titled Five Things You Should Know about the St. George Utah Temple.
Point #3 states: “After announcing that a temple would be built in St. George, Brigham Young purchased a home in the city. He visited St. George every year and visited the temple site as often as possible." https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/content/historic-sites/utah/st-george/five-things-you-should-know-about-the-st-george-utah-temple?lang=eng
However faith promoting this story is, it simply is not true.
This slight alteration of truth may be a minor thing, but it is a good example of changing facts for the sake of promoting faith. According to the Washington County Historical Society, Brigham bought his first home in St. George in either 1866 or 1868.
The LDS Church’s “Official” End of Polygamy: The 1st Manifesto
LDS Church’s Gospel Topics Essay: The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage
What, exactly, was the 1890 Manifesto? Apostle Heber J. Grant, publisher of the Salt Lake Herald editorialized that the anti-Mormon Salt Lake Tribune “[The Tribune] pretends the declaration is a revelation . . . although no one to day has heard anyone except the lying sheet say it was a revelation” (Salt Lake Herald, 9 Oct. 1890, p. 4).When asked if the Manifesto was a revelation, “President Smith answered emphatically no… he did not believe it to be an emphatic revelation from God abolishing plural marriage.” (First Presidency Office Journal, August 20, 1891.) In the trial for the membership of Apostle Matthias Cowley he testified that President Joseph F. Smith informed him the 1890 Manifesto did not “mean anything.” Others including George Reynolds, L. John Nuttall, Charles W. Penrose, John Henry Smith and B. H. Roberts all denied the Manifesto was a revelation.
The truth is, the 1st Manifesto was a political statement. President Wilford Woodruff, under intense pressure from the US Government to end plural marriage, with the threat that all of their properties, including their temples, would be confiscated, met with lawyers and drafted a document pretending to end plural marriage. At the time, LDS CHurch leadership understood it was a crafted to deceive the US Government and continued performing plural marriages.
Concubine:A woman who cohabits with a man, without the authority of a legal marriage; a woman kept for lewd purposes; a kept mistress.
A discussion that took place in a meeting of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve on April 5, 1894 (four years after the Manifesto). They discussed concubinage as a means of meeting the technical requirements of the [federal] law, while still continuing sexual relationships with multiple women. George Q. Cannon said: “I believe in concubinage, or some plan whereby men and women can live together under sacred ordinances and vows until they can be married. Thus our surplus of girls can be cared for, and the law of God to multiply and replenish the earth can be fulfilled.” President Lorenzo Snow added: “I have no doubt but concubinage will yet be practiced by this Church, but I had not thought of it in this connection. When the nations are troubled good women will come here for safety and blessing, and men will accept them as concubines.” President Woodruff added: “If men enter into some practice of this character to raise a righteous posterity, they will be justified in it. The day is near when there will be no difficulty in the way of good men securing noble wives.”
Just kidding, this time we really mean it, the “Official Official” end to polygamy?
The 2nd Manifesto
Utah became a state in 1896, but underground plural wives were continued until the Congressional hearings during the Senator Reed Smoot controversy in 1904. President Joseph F. Smith went to Washington, DC and testified under oath about the matter, testifying that the LDS Church had abandoned the practice and subsequently actually ended the practice. The trauma of testifying during these hearings resulted in the “Second Manifesto” written in 1904 by President Joseph F. Smith. This was another attempt to end the underground practice.
At the April 6, 1904 General Conference, President Joseph F. Smith asked for a sustaining vote of a Second Manifest. President Smith read in part: “Inasmuch as there are numerous reports in circulation that plural marriages have been entered into contrary to the official declaration of President Woodruff, of September 24, 1890, commonly called the Manifesto . . . [I] hereby affirm and declare that no such marriages have been solemnized with the sanction, consent or knowledge of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (Deseret Evening News, 6 April 1904, p. 1; Clark, Messages of the First Presidency 4:84-85).
When will our repentance be complete?
While the 1904 letter of President Smith’s made new plural marriages punishable by excommunication, it did not actually end plural marriage. It just became more secret. Apostle John W. Taylor and Matthias Cowley were sacrificed when their continued sealing of plural wives was brought to light by the Salt Lake Tribune. Their trials removed them from the Quorum of the Twelve on April 6, 1906 for failing to discontinue the practice of sealing multiple wives in violation of the 1904 letter (NOT the Manifesto). No one contended in the church court proceedings for Apostles Taylor and Cowley that the Manifesto ended the practice or required them to cease sealing plural wives as early as 1890. Taylor was eventually excommunicated on March 28, 1911. Matthias Cowley priesthood was suspended on May 11, 1911. Years later, after he broke relationship with known polygamists, his priesthood was restored on April 3, 1936.
The Conspiracy Continues
Conspiracies do exist. Whether the conspiracy to frame Joseph as the originator of polygamy was done out of nefarious motives or justifications, it did happen and continues to happen today.
Alteration of history continues today.
Joseph Smith taught “We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and that the nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients, arrives at that point of faith where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker, and is caught up to dwell with Him.”History of the Church, 2:8.
In order to fully repent takes acknowledging the sins, errors, and mistakes of our past. It takes effort to sift through information to find the truth, but it can be done. We can learn to discern the truth of all things.