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{{information|She explained this didn't trouble her. Emma insisted that she was ''not'' forbidden to see them, but that she was convinced that it was the work of God, and that this sufficed for her. The author also does not report Emma's witness about the tangible reality of the physical plates. | {{information|She explained this didn't trouble her. Emma insisted that she was ''not'' forbidden to see them, but that she was convinced that it was the work of God, and that this sufficed for her. The author also does not report Emma's witness about the tangible reality of the physical plates. | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | * [[Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Other Book of Mormon witnesses# | + | * [[Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Other Book of Mormon witnesses#Emma Smith|Emma Smith not forbidden to see plates]] |
==Response to claim: 28 - For Joseph and Emma, "Married life was not easy. In fact, it was riddled with doubts, rumors, and deception from the start"== | ==Response to claim: 28 - For Joseph and Emma, "Married life was not easy. In fact, it was riddled with doubts, rumors, and deception from the start"== | ||
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{{propaganda|How does the author know that Joseph was "haunted by the suspicion"? He is attempting to read Joseph's mind. The only evidence he has provided are late, hostile attacks from the Hurlbut-Howe affidavits. The specific claims do not hold up to scrutiny (see below). | {{propaganda|How does the author know that Joseph was "haunted by the suspicion"? He is attempting to read Joseph's mind. The only evidence he has provided are late, hostile attacks from the Hurlbut-Howe affidavits. The specific claims do not hold up to scrutiny (see below). | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | *[[ | + | *[[Joseph Smith and plural marriage/Polygamists are to go beyond normal "bounds"|Did Joseph say polygamists_are_to_go_beyond_normal_"bounds"?]] |
*[[Joseph Smith/Psychobiographical analysis of|Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith]] | *[[Joseph Smith/Psychobiographical analysis of|Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith]] | ||
*[[../../Assumptions and presumptions]] | *[[../../Assumptions and presumptions]] | ||
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|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
# | # | ||
− | * {{s|| | + | * {{s||D&C|132||}} (no verses provided). |
}} | }} | ||
{{disinformation|The term "annihilation" is nowhere used in D&C 132 or any LDS scripture. | {{disinformation|The term "annihilation" is nowhere used in D&C 132 or any LDS scripture. | ||
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|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
# | # | ||
− | * {{s|| | + | * {{s||D&C|132||}} (no verses provided). |
}} | }} | ||
{{misinformation|This calls into question, then, the author's theory that Joseph wrote the Book of Mormon and had been concocting the whole polygamy idea since his teen years. If the Book of Mormon is Joseph's initial rationale for polygamy, why not use its best argument? | {{misinformation|This calls into question, then, the author's theory that Joseph wrote the Book of Mormon and had been concocting the whole polygamy idea since his teen years. If the Book of Mormon is Joseph's initial rationale for polygamy, why not use its best argument? | ||
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{{propaganda|The author is again pushing his "romantic" version of the letter to the Whitneys. The author commonly exploits the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(literary_and_historical_analysis) presentist fallacy] in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages, or differences in their ages from his. | {{propaganda|The author is again pushing his "romantic" version of the letter to the Whitneys. The author commonly exploits the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_(literary_and_historical_analysis) presentist fallacy] in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages, or differences in their ages from his. | ||
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Whitney letter]] | *[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Whitney letter]] | ||
− | *[[../../ | + | *[[../../Use of sources#Sarah Ann Whitney and the letter to the Whitneys|Use of sources—Letter to Whitneys]] |
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]] | *[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]] | ||
*[[../../Mind reading]] | *[[../../Mind reading]] | ||
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}} | }} | ||
*[[Polygamy book/Initiation of the practice|Initiation of the practice]] | *[[Polygamy book/Initiation of the practice|Initiation of the practice]] | ||
− | *[[ | + | *[[Polygamy book/Introduction of the eternal marriage|Fanny Alger—affair or marriage?]] |
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | *[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | ||
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}} | *{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}} | ||
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{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Fanny Alger}} | {{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Fanny Alger}} | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | *[[../../ | + | *[[../../Use of sources#.22temtations.22 and Fanny Alger|"temptations" and Fanny Alger]] |
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | *[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | ||
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{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Fanny Alger}} | {{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Fanny Alger}} | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | *[[ | + | *[[Polygamy book/Introduction of the eternal marriage|Fanny Alger—affair or marriage?]] |
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | *[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | ||
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{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Fanny Alger}} | {{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Fanny Alger}} | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | *[[ | + | *[[Polygamy book/Introduction of the eternal marriage|Fanny Alger—affair or marriage?]] |
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | *[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | ||
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{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Hancock_ignored}} | {{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Hancock_ignored}} | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | *[[ | + | *[[Polygamy book/Introduction of the eternal marriage|Fanny Alger—affair or marriage?]] |
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | *[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | ||
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#Newell and Avery, ''Mormon Enigma'', 66. | #Newell and Avery, ''Mormon Enigma'', 66. | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | {{propaganda|McLellin claims Emma Smith confirmed ''[[ | + | {{propaganda|McLellin claims Emma Smith confirmed ''[[Joseph Smith and polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin#McLellin: Letter No. 2.E2.80.94July 1872|both]]'' tales, yet later claims she confirmed only [[Joseph Smith and polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin#McLellin: Newspaper.E2.80.94October 1875|one]]. There are other aspects of the supposed "confirmation" which likewise cast doubt on McLellin's tale. |
− | *[[ | + | *[[Polygamy book/Introduction of the eternal marriage|Fanny Alger—affair or marriage?]] |
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | *[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | ||
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}} | *{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}} | ||
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{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Fanny Alger}} | {{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Fanny Alger}} | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | *[[ | + | *[[Polygamy book/Introduction of the eternal marriage|Fanny Alger—affair or marriage?]] |
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | *[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | ||
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# No source provided. | # No source provided. | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | {{information|There is reason to [[ | + | {{information|There is reason to [[Joseph Smith and polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin#The Webbs|doubt]] this claim, not merely to regard it as unconfirmed. |
*{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}} | *{{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}} | ||
{{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Fanny Alger}} | {{CriticalWorks:Smith:Nauvoo_Polygamy:See_also:Fanny Alger}} | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | *[[ | + | *[[Polygamy book/Introduction of the eternal marriage|Fanny Alger—affair or marriage?]] |
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | *[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | ||
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These are "second hand," but so are Parrish, William, Emma, Johnson, and Fanny Brewer! | These are "second hand," but so are Parrish, William, Emma, Johnson, and Fanny Brewer! | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | *[[ | + | *[[Polygamy book/Introduction of the eternal marriage|Fanny Alger—affair or marriage?]] |
*[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | *[[Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Fanny Alger and William McLellin|Fanny Alger—William McLellin account]] | ||
*See TABLE 2 in {{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}} | *See TABLE 2 in {{GLS-Nauvoo Polygamy-FARMS}} | ||
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|claim={{AuthorQuote|"In Smith's narrative, an otherworldly being Smith called 'the Lord' defends polygamy…."}} | |claim={{AuthorQuote|"In Smith's narrative, an otherworldly being Smith called 'the Lord' defends polygamy…."}} | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
− | #{{s|| | + | #{{s||D&C|132||}} |
}} | }} | ||
{{propaganda|An "otherworldly being" called "the Lord?" | {{propaganda|An "otherworldly being" called "the Lord?" | ||
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|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
#{{s||Jacob|2||}} | #{{s||Jacob|2||}} | ||
− | #{{s|| | + | #{{s||D&C|132||}} |
}} | }} | ||
− | *[[Contradiction between D&C 132 and Jacob 2 ]] | + | *[[Contradiction between D&C 132 and Jacob 2]] |
==Response to claim: 49 - The author speculates that a revelation received by Joseph seemed "to recall Smith's teenage concerns about sinful thoughts and behavior, reiterated this standard: 'Thou shalt not commit adultery….'"== | ==Response to claim: 49 - The author speculates that a revelation received by Joseph seemed "to recall Smith's teenage concerns about sinful thoughts and behavior, reiterated this standard: 'Thou shalt not commit adultery….'"== | ||
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|claim=The author speculates that a revelation received by Joseph seemed "to recall Smith's teenage concerns about sinful thoughts and behavior, reiterated this standard: 'Thou shalt not commit adultery….'" | |claim=The author speculates that a revelation received by Joseph seemed "to recall Smith's teenage concerns about sinful thoughts and behavior, reiterated this standard: 'Thou shalt not commit adultery….'" | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
− | #{{s|| | + | #{{s||D&C|42|24}} |
}} | }} | ||
{{propaganda|Again presuming what he has failed to prove—that Joseph was challenged by sexual sin from early adolescence. | {{propaganda|Again presuming what he has failed to prove—that Joseph was challenged by sexual sin from early adolescence. | ||
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}} | }} | ||
{{propaganda|The implication is that the Church sanctions "abusive coercion of underage girls in polygamous communities." Doctrine and Covenants 132 provides no support for such a practice.}} | {{propaganda|The implication is that the Church sanctions "abusive coercion of underage girls in polygamous communities." Doctrine and Covenants 132 provides no support for such a practice.}} | ||
− | *[[ | + | *[[Logical fallacies#Guilt by association|Logical fallacy—Guilt by association]] |
*[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]] | *[[../../Loaded and prejudicial language]] | ||
{{endnotes sources}} | {{endnotes sources}} |
Chapter 1 (pp. 1-25) | A FAIR Analysis of: Nauvoo Polygamy: "... but we called it celestial marriage", a work by author: George D. Smith
|
Chapter 2 (pp. 52-107) |
Jump to details:
The author suggests that Isaac Hale not being allowed to look at the plates was a "clumsy subterfuge."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
* Author's quote: "Joseph's personal charisma was working its effect where he needed to rely on others for help. He elicited sympathy and created a sense of urgency; his enterprises bore a strange significance."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
The author refers to a talisman that Joseph "is said to have worn while digging."Author's sources:
- D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 68 ( Index of claims )
- Van Wagoner and Walker, "Joseph Smith Gift of Seeing," 2.
The author notes that Emma "was nevertheless forbidden to see the plates herself."Author's sources:
- Van Wagoner & Walker, "Joseph Smith Gift," 50.
Author's quote: "Married life was not easy. In fact, it was riddled with doubts, rumors, and deception from the start."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Author's quote: "…Joseph was haunted by the suspicion, which followed him from place to place, that he crossed moral boundaries in his friendship with other women."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
The author claims that Joseph had an affair with Eliza Winters in 1828.Author's sources:
- No source provided
Eliza Winters (edit)
Author's quote: "When Emma's mother, Elizabeth Hale, was asked about this [the purported seduction of Eliza Winters] in an interview forty-six years later, she declined to comment. Whatever she might have known went with her to the grave in February 1842…."Author's sources:
- Vogel, Early Mormon Documents 4:296–97, 346–60; see also Frederick G. Mather, "The Early Mormons: Joe Smith Operates at Susquehanna," Binghamton Republican (29 July 188).
Eliza Winters (edit)
The author claims that in the revelation that became D&C 132, that Emma was promised "annihilation if she failed to 'abide this commandment.'"Author's sources:
- D&C 132 (no verses provided).
The author notes that D&C 132 "did not invoke the Book of Mormon's justification for taking more wives—the call to raise a righteous seed."Author's sources:
- D&C 132 (no verses provided).
Early preoccupation with polygamy (edit)
Author's quote: "The same year he married Emma…Joseph also probably had met Louisa Beaman, then only twelve years old."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Ages of wives (edit)
The author speculates that Joseph's relationships in Ohio "with various families and their daughters...allowed him to invite the young women into his further confidence when they were older."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Ages of wives (edit)
*The author notes that "In most cases, the women were adolescents or in their twenties when he met them. About ten were pre-teens, others already thirty or above."Author's sources:
The author commonly exploits the presentist fallacy in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages, or differences in their ages from his.
<h4>Fact checking results: This claim contains propaganda - The author, or the author's source, is providing information or ideas in a slanted way in order to instill a particular attitude or response in the reader
- No source provided
Ages of wives (edit)
See also ch. Preface: ix See also ch. 2: 53 See also ch. 2a: 142-143 See also ch. 3: 198 See also ch. 6: 408
Response to claim: 30 - "Whitney's daughter Sarah Ann would become one of Joseph Smith's wives, although at the time she was only five years old"
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
Author's quote: "Whitney's daughter Sarah Ann would become one of Joseph Smith's wives, although at the time [1831] she was only five years old."Author's sources:
- No source provided
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim contains propaganda - The author, or the author's source, is providing information or ideas in a slanted way in order to instill a particular attitude or response in the reader
The author commonly exploits the presentist fallacy in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages, or differences in their ages from his.Ages of wives (edit)
See also ch. Preface: ix See also ch. 2: 53 See also ch. 2a: 142-143 See also ch. 3: 198 See also ch. 6: 408
Response to claim: 31 - Mary Elizabeth Rollings is described as "an excitable and impressionable young woman…at age thirteen…had interpreted words spoken in tongues…."
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
Mary Elizabeth Rollings is described as "an excitable and impressionable young woman…at age thirteen…had interpreted words spoken in tongues…."Author's sources:
- No source provided
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim contains propaganda - The author, or the author's source, is providing information or ideas in a slanted way in order to instill a particular attitude or response in the reader
The author commonly exploits the presentist fallacy in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages, or differences in their ages from his.Ages of wives (edit)
See also ch. Preface: ix See also ch. 2: 53 See also ch. 2a: 142-143 See also ch. 3: 198 See also ch. 6: 408
Response to claim: 31 - "It was eleven years after the Smiths roomed with the Whitneys that Joseph expressed a romantic interest in their daughter, as well"
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
The author points out that "[i]t was eleven years after the Smiths roomed with the Whitneys that Joseph expressed a romantic interest in their daughter, as well."Author's sources:
- No source provided
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim contains propaganda - The author, or the author's source, is providing information or ideas in a slanted way in order to instill a particular attitude or response in the reader
The author is again pushing his "romantic" version of the letter to the Whitneys. The author commonly exploits the presentist fallacy in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages, or differences in their ages from his.
- Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Whitney letter
- Use of sources—Letter to Whitneys
- Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language
- Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading
- Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Romance
- Age of wives
- Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Presentism
Whitney "love letter" (edit)
Womanizing & romance (edit)
See also ch. 2a: 116
Response to claim: 31 - "Another future wife, Marinda Johnson, was fifteen when she met Smith in Ohio"
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
Author's quote: "Another future wife, Marinda Johnson, was fifteen when she met Smith in Ohio. She said when he looked into her eyes, she felt ashamed. At the time, the Smiths were living with Marinda's family…."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim contains propaganda - The author, or the author's source, is providing information or ideas in a slanted way in order to instill a particular attitude or response in the reader
What is the author trying to imply? Joseph made her ashamed? This is false—she felt ashamed for doubting Joseph's prophetic call once she'd met him. Note also that the author does not tell story of Marinda's mother being healed of a palsied arm by Joseph (See Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 230).
- "she felt ashamed..."
- Marinda Nancy Johnson
- The author commonly exploits the presentist fallacy in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages, or differences in their ages from his.
- Age of wives
- Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Presentism
Response to claim: 32 - "The seven-year-old daughter of Apostle Heber C. Kimball was still another future wife"
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
Author's quote: "The seven-year-old daughter of Apostle Heber C. Kimball was still another future wife…When she married Smith a few years later in Nauvoo at the age of fourteen, it was with her father's encouragement."Author's sources:
- No source provided
FAIR's Response
- Helen Mar Kimball
- The author commonly exploits the presentist fallacy in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages, or differences in their ages from his.
- Age of wives
- Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Presentism</h4>
The author speculates on the nature of Joseph Smith's relationships with these young women "from the time he first met them," and asks: "How relevant is it that in many instances he had lived under the same roof as his future wife prior to marrying her?"Author's sources:
- No source given.
Womanizing & romance (edit)
*It is noted that Lucinda and George Harris lived across the street from the Smith family, and that "at an unspecified time, but probably by 1842, Lucinda became one more of the prophet's plural wives."Author's sources:
- No source given.
Lucinda Harris (edit)
The author claims that in Illinois Joseph "was still hunted by law officials for old offenses."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
The author notes that "[d]uring the 1837 recession, Smith's unchartered bank, called the Kirtland Safety Society Anti-banking Company, collapsed. Angry Ohioans could not be repaid for loans they had made to Mormon merchants and some church members lost their savings."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Author's quote: "Missourians were alarmed by the influx of Mormons…and met to decide what to do about the intrusion. Sidney Rigdon warned that if they lifted their hand against the church, they would be 'exterminated.' In response to this incendiary speech, violence erupted on both sides, and Governor Lilburn Boggs soon declared in an echo of Rigdon's rhetoric that 'the Mormons…must be exterminated,' 'treated as enemies,' and 'driven from the State if necessary' to protect 'the public peace.'Author's sources:
- History of the Church 3:42, 175.
The author claims that Joseph and the other prisoners "escaped to join their people in Illinois, where they proceeded to found a theocratic society."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
The author notes that Todd Compton "has assembled the most complete documentation regarding Joseph and Fanny's relationship. However, I hesitate to concur with Compton's interpretation of their relationship as a marriage."Author's sources:
- Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997), 25–42. ( Index of claims )
- Fanny Alger (edit)
See also ch. 3: 237- Ignoring Hancock autobiography (edit)
See also ch. 3: 237
One of the wives about whom we know relatively little is Fanny Alger, Joseph's first plural wife, whom he came to know in early 1833 when she stayed at the Smith home as a house-assistant of sorts to Emma (such work was common for young women at the time). There are no first-hand accounts of their relationship (from Joseph or Fanny), nor are there second-hand accounts (from Emma or Fanny's family). All that we do have is third hand (and mostly hostile) accounts, most of them recorded many years after the events.
Unfortunately, this lack of reliable and extensive historical detail leaves much room for critics to claim that Joseph Smith had an affair with Fanny and then later invented plural marriage as way to justify his actions which, again, rests on dubious historical grounds. The problem is we don't know the details of the relationship or exactly of what it consisted, and so are left to assume that Joseph acted honorably (as believers) or dishonorably (as critics).
There is some historical evidence that Joseph Smith knew as early as 1831 that plural marriage would be restored, so it is perfectly legitimate to argue that Joseph's relationship with Fanny Alger was such a case. Mosiah Hancock (a Mormon) reported a wedding ceremony; and apostate Mormons Ann Eliza Webb Young and her father Chauncery both referred to Fanny's relationship as a "sealing." Ann Eliza also reported that Fanny's family was very proud of Fanny's relationship with Joseph, which makes little sense if it was simply a tawdry affair. Those closest to them saw the marriage as exactly that—a marriage.
Joseph Smith came to know Fanny Alger in early 1833 when she stayed at the Smith home as a house-assistant to Emma. Neither Joseph nor Fanny ever left any first-hand accounts of their relationship. There are no second-hand accounts from Emma or Fanny's family. All that we do have is third hand accounts from people who did not directly observe the events associated with this first plural marriage, and most of them recorded many years after the events.
Benjamin F. Johnson stated that in 1835 he had "learned from my sister’s husband, Lyman R. Sherman, who was close to the Prophet, and received it from him, 'that the ancient order of Plural Marriage was again to be practiced by the Church.' This, at the time did not impress my mind deeply, although there lived then with his family (the Prophet’s) a neighbor’s daughter, Fannie Alger, a very nice and comely young woman about my own age, toward whom not only myself, but every one, seemed partial, for the amiability for her character; and it was whispered even then that Joseph loved her."[1]
Mosiah Hancock discusses the manner in which the proposal was extended to Fanny, and states that a marriage ceremony was performed. Joseph asked Levi Hancock, the brother-in-law of Samuel Alger, Fanny’s father, to request Fanny as his plural wife:
Samuel, the Prophet Joseph loves your daughter Fanny and wishes her for a wife. What say you?" Uncle Sam says, "Go and talk to the old woman [Fanny’s mother] about it. Twill be as she says." Father goes to his sister and said, "Clarissy, Brother Joseph the Prophet of the most high God loves Fanny and wishes her for a wife. What say you?" Said she, "Go and talk to Fanny. It will be all right with me." Father goes to Fanny and said, "Fanny, Brother Joseph the Prophet loves you and wishes you for a wife. Will you be his wife?" "I will Levi," said she. Father takes Fanny to Joseph and said, "Brother Joseph I have been successful in my mission." Father gave her to Joseph, repeating the ceremony as Joseph repeated to him.[2]
There is historical evidence that Joseph Smith knew as early as 1831 that plural marriage would be restored. Mosiah Hancock (a Mormon) reported a wedding ceremony in Kirtland, Ohio in 1833.
Apostate Mormons Ann Eliza Webb Young and her father Chauncery both referred to Fanny's relationship as a "sealing." Ann Eliza also reported that Fanny's family was very proud of Fanny's relationship with Joseph, which makes little sense if it was simply a tawdry affair. Those closest to them saw the marriage as exactly that—a marriage.
Some have wondered how the first plural marriages (such as the Alger marriage) could have occurred before the 1836 restoration of the sealing keys in the Kirtland temple (see D&C 110). This confusion occurs because we tend to conflate several ideas. They were not all initially wrapped together in one doctrine:
Thus, the marriage to Fanny would have occurred under the understanding #1 above. The concept of sealing beyond the grave came later. Therefore, the marriage of Joseph and Fanny would have been a plural marriage, but it would not have been a marriage for eternity.
Perhaps it is worth mentioning that priesthood power already gave the ability to ratify certain ordinances as binding on heaven and earth (D&C 1:8), that the sealing power was given mention in earlier revelations such as Helaman 10:7, and that the coming of Elijah and his turning of the hearts of children and fathers was prophesied in 3 Nephi 25:5-6. This supports the view that it is unlikely that Joseph was just making up the sealing power and priesthood power extemporaneously to justify getting married to Fanny and having sexual relations with her.
Some of Joseph's associates, most notably Oliver Cowdery, perceived Joseph's association with Fanny as an affair rather than a plural marriage. Oliver, in a letter to his brother Warren, asserted that "in every instance I did not fail to affirm that which I had said was strictly true. A dirty, nasty, filthy affair of his and Fanny Alger's was talked over in which I strictly declared that I had never deserted from the truth in the matter, and as I supposed was admitted by himself."[3]
Gary J. Bergera, an advocate of the "affair" theory, wrote:
I do not believe that Fanny Alger, whom [Todd] Compton counts as Smith’s first plural wife, satisfies the criteria to be considered a "wife." Briefly, the sources for such a "marriage" are all retrospective and presented from a point of view favoring plural marriage, rather than, say, an extramarital liaison…Smith’s doctrine of eternal marriage was not formulated until after 1839–40. [4]
There are several problems with this analysis. While it is true that sources on Fanny are all retrospective, the same is true of many early plural marriages. Fanny's marriage has more evidence than some. Bergera says that all the sources about Fanny's marriage come "from a point of view favoring plural marriage," but this claim is clearly false.
For example, Fanny's marriage was mentioned by Ann Eliza Webb Young, a later wife of Brigham Young's who divorced him, published an anti-Mormon book, and spent much of her time giving anti-Mormon, anti-polygamy lectures. Fanny stayed with Ann Eliza's family after leaving Joseph and Emma's house, and both Ann Eliza and her father Chauncey Webb [5] refer to Joseph's relationship to Fanny as a "sealing." [6] Eliza also noted that the Alger family "considered it the highest honor to have their daughter adopted into the prophet's family, and her mother has always claimed that she [Fanny] was sealed to Joseph at that time." [7] This would be a strange attitude to take if their relationship was a mere affair. And, the hostile Webbs had no reason to invent a "sealing" idea if they could have made Fanny into a mere case of adultery.
It seems clear, then, that Joseph, Fanny's family, Levi Hancock, and even hostile witnesses saw their relationship as a marriage, albeit an unorthodox one. The witness of Chauncey Webb and Ann Eliza Webb Young make it untenable to claim that only a later Mormon whitewash turned an affair into a marriage.
It appears that shortly after the April 3 vision, Joseph Smith recorded a first-hand account of the vision in his own personal journal or notes. That original record has not been found and is probably lost. Nonetheless, these important visitations were documented in other contemporaneous records. Within a few days, the Prophet’s secretary Warren Cowdery transcribed Joseph’s first-hand account into a third-hand account to be used in the Church history then being composed. |
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Despite the importance of Elijah and the Kirtland Temple visitations, Joseph Smith did not publicly teach eternal marriage for perhaps six years after he received the authority to perform those ordinances. |
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Sometime in late 1835 or early 1836, in a priesthood ceremony performed by Levi Hancock, Joseph secretly married Fanny Alger, a domestic living in the Smith home. When Oliver Cowdery and Emma Smith learned of the relationship, they did not consider it a legitimate marriage. Joseph was unable to convince them the polygamous marriage was approved of God. Fanny left the area and married a non-member a few months later and never returned to the Church. Her family and other who were close to her remained true to Joseph Smith, following him to Nauvoo and later migrating with the Saints to Utah. |
Critical sources |
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In 1872, William McLellin (then an apostate excommunicated nearly 34 years prior) wrote a letter to Emma and Joseph's son, Joseph Smith III:
Now Joseph I will relate to you some history, and refer you to your own dear Mother for the truth. You will probably remember that I visited your Mother and family in 1847, and held a lengthy conversation with her, retired in the Mansion House in Nauvoo. I did not ask her to tell, but I told her some stories I had heard. And she told me whether I was properly informed. Dr. F. G. Williams practiced with me in Clay Co. Mo. during the latter part of 1838. And he told me that at your birth your father committed an act with a Miss Hill [sic]—a hired girl. Emma saw him, and spoke to him. He desisted, but Mrs. Smith refused to be satisfied. He called in Dr. Williams, O. Cowdery, and S. Rigdon to reconcile Emma. But she told them just as the circumstances took place. He found he was caught. He confessed humbly, and begged forgiveness. Emma and all forgave him. She told me this story was true!! Again I told her I heard that one night she missed Joseph and Fanny Alger. She went to the barn and saw him and Fanny in the barn together alone. She looked through a crack and saw the transaction!!! She told me this story too was verily true. [8]
Some critics interpret "transaction" to mean intercourse in this case and that Emma caught Joseph in the very act. But McLellin reported on the event again three years afterwards in 1875 to J. H. Beadle and makes it clear that he is talking about the wedding or sealing ceremony:
He [McLellin] was in the vicinity during all the Mormon troubles in Northern Missouri, and grieved heavily over the suffering of his former brethren. He also informed me of the spot where the first well authenticated case of polygamy took place in which Joseph Smith was "sealed" to the hired girl. The "sealing" took place in a barn on the hay mow, and was witnessed by Mrs. Smith through a crack in the door! The Doctor was so distressed about this case, (it created some scandal at the time among the Saints,) that long afterwards when he visited Mrs. Emma Smith at Nauvoo, he charged her as she hoped for salvation to tell him the truth about it. And she then and there declared on her honor that it was a fact—"saw it with her own eyes." [9]
Ann Eliza Webb, who was born in 1844, was not even alive at the time of these events, could only only comment based upon what her father told her about Joseph and Fanny. Ann apostatized from the Church and wrote an "expose" called Wife No. 19, or The story of a Life in Bondage. She described Fanny as follows:
Mrs. Smith had an adopted daughter, a very pretty, pleasing young girl, about seventeen years old. She was extremely fond of her; no mother could be more devoted, and their affection for each other was a constant object of remark, so absorbing and genuine did it seem. Consequently is was with a shocked surprise that people heard that sister Emma had turned Fanny out of the house in the night.[10]
The first mention of a pregnancy for Fanny is in an 1886 anti-Mormon work, citing Chauncey Webb, with whom Fanny reportedly lived after leaving the Smith home.[11] Webb claimed that Emma "drove" Fanny from the house because she "was unable to conceal the consequences of her celestial relation with the prophet." If Fanny was pregnant, it is curious that no one else remarked upon it at the time, though it is possible that the close quarters of a nineteenth-century household provided Emma with clues. If Fanny was pregnant by Joseph, the child never went to term, died young, or was raised under a different name.
Fawn Brodie, in her critical work No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, claimed that "there is some evidence that Fannie Alger bore Joseph a child in Kirtland."[12] However, DNA research in 2005 confirmed Fanny Alger’s son Orrison Smith is not the son of Joseph Smith, Jr.[13]
Notes
Author's quote: "Joseph wrote in his journal on December 4, 1832, 'Oh, Lord, deliver thy servant out of temtations [sic] and fill his heart with wisdom and understanding.' If this was not in reference to Fanny Alger, it coincided with the report of two of Joseph's scribes, Warren Parrish and Oliver Cowdery, that Joseph had been 'found' in the hay with his housekeeper."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Fanny Alger (edit)
Warren Parrish said that Joseph and Fanny were discovered together "as a wife."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Fanny Alger (edit)
Oliver Cowdery referred to Joseph's relationship with Fanny Alger as a "dirty, nasty, filthy affair."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Fanny Alger (edit)
}}
The William McLellin claims are discussed.
It is noted that William McLellin sometimes claims there was also a "Miss Hill" involved with Joseph.Author's sources:
- Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma, 66.
Author's quote: "It might be important to mention that the testimony here and elsewhere regarding "[having] Fanny Alger as a wife" employs a Victorian euphemism that should not be construed to imply that Fanny was actually married to Joseph."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Fanny Alger (edit)
The author states that "[t]here is no evidence to corroborate the claim that Fanny was pregnant."Author's sources:
- No source provided.
Fanny Alger (edit)
Five "primary accounts" of the Fanny Alger relationship:
- Oliver Cowdery & Warren Parrish
- FG Williams via McLellin
- Emma Smith via McLellin
- Benjamin F. Johnson
- Fanny Brewer's affidavit
Fact checking results: The author has stated erroneous information or misinterpreted their sources
There is no Warren Parrish statement as suggested in #1; only Johnson's citation of him in 1905.The author fails to mention:
- Ann Eliza Webb x 2 (hostile, but thought was a marriage)
- Chauncery Webb
These are "second hand," but so are Parrish, William, Emma, Johnson, and Fanny Brewer!
- Fanny Alger—affair or marriage?
- Fanny Alger—William McLellin account
- See TABLE 2 in 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)
Fanny Alger (edit)
See also ch. 3: 237Response to claim: 44 - "Rumors may have been circulating already as early as 1832 that Smith had been familiar with fifteen-year-old Marinda Johnson"
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
<i> Author's quote: "Rumors may have been circulating already as early as 1832 that Smith had been familiar with fifteen-year-old Marinda Johnson, a member of the family with which Smith lived in Ohio."</i>Author's sources:
- No source provided.
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: The author has stated erroneous information or misinterpreted their sources
Compton and Van Wagoner both reject this version of events.
- 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)
Womanizing & romance (edit)
See also ch. 2a: 116Response to claim: 44 - Lucinda Harris is said to have claimed that she was Joseph's 'mistress' four years before an 1842 conversation with Sarah Pratt
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
<i>Lucinda Harris is said to have claimed that she was Joseph's 'mistress' four years before an 1842 conversation with Sarah Pratt.</i>Author's sources:
- Wilhelm Wyl, Mormon Portraits Volume First: Joseph Smith the Prophet, His Family and Friends (Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing Co., 1886), 60.
- D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), 618.
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim contains propaganda - The author, or the author's source, is providing information or ideas in a slanted way in order to instill a particular attitude or response in the reader
Such a claim is inconsistent with the mores of the time. The author does no source criticism on the problems with the Sarah Pratt statement from a virulently anti-Mormon work.
- 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)
Lucinda Harris (edit)
See also ch. 2: 92
Response to claim: 45 - "Smith introduced members…to the ordinances of…eternal marriage (1841)"
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
<i>The author claims that Gary James Bergera argued that "Smith introduced members…to the ordinances of…eternal marriage (1841)…."</i>Author's sources:
- Bergera, "The Earliest Eternal Sealings for Civilly Married Couples Living and Dead," Dialogue 35 (Fall 2002): 41–42, 45.
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: The author has stated erroneous information or misinterpreted their sources
Joseph was teaching the doctrine of eternal marriage well before 1841.Response to claim: 44–45 - ""Civil marriage" was claimed to be "an outdated marriage contract"
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
<i>"Civil marriage" was claimed to be "an outdated marriage contract which, church members came to understand, was an inefficacious as an improper baptism."</i>Author's sources:
- Bergera, "The Earliest Eternal Sealings for Civilly Married Couples Living and Dead," Dialogue 35 (Fall 2002): 41–42, 45.
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim is false
Not true, since one could be in good Church standing if one was civilly married, but not if one was committing adultery. Beyond the grave, marriages were not binding. But this does not mean that they were "outdated," or that Church members did not continue to marry civilly.
- Richard Lloyd Anderson and Scott H. Faulring, "The Prophet Joseph Smith and His Plural Wives (Review of In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith)," FARMS Review of Books 10/2 (1998): 67–104. off-site
Response to claim: 48 - "an otherworldly being Smith called 'the Lord' defends polygamy…."
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
<i> Author's quote: "In Smith's narrative, an otherworldly being Smith called 'the Lord' defends polygamy…."</i>Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim contains propaganda - The author, or the author's source, is providing information or ideas in a slanted way in order to instill a particular attitude or response in the reader
An "otherworldly being" called "the Lord?"
Response to claim: 48-49 - D&C 132 "contravenes the Book of Mormon passage where polygamy is said to be allowed under certain conditions but is likely an indication of wickedness"
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
<i>The author claims that D&C 132 "contravenes the Book of Mormon passage where polygamy is said to be allowed under certain conditions but is likely an indication of wickedness…." "However, Smith's 1843 revelation changes all this. Section 132 establishes polygamy as a virtuous higher law that is forever 'true'—no longer a time-sensitive practice."</i>Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
Response to claim: 49 - The author speculates that a revelation received by Joseph seemed "to recall Smith's teenage concerns about sinful thoughts and behavior, reiterated this standard: 'Thou shalt not commit adultery….'"
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
<i>The author speculates that a revelation received by Joseph seemed "to recall Smith's teenage concerns about sinful thoughts and behavior, reiterated this standard: 'Thou shalt not commit adultery….'"</i>Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim contains propaganda - The author, or the author's source, is providing information or ideas in a slanted way in order to instill a particular attitude or response in the reader
Again presuming what he has failed to prove—that Joseph was challenged by sexual sin from early adolescence.Womanizing & romance (edit)
See also ch. 2a: 116
Response to claim: 50 - "…in 1841, Joseph Smith and Luisa Beaman participated in the first formal ceremony to legitimize a plural coupling"
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
<i> Author's quote: "…in 1841, Joseph Smith and Luisa Beaman participated in the first formal ceremony to legitimize a plural coupling."</i>Author's sources:
- No source given.
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: The author has stated erroneous information or misinterpreted their sources
Again ignores the Hancock autobiography, Ann Eliza Webb, Chauncery Webb, and Benjamin F. Johnson.Ignoring Hancock autobiography (edit)
See also ch. 3: 237
Response to claim: 50 - The author suggest that Joseph engaged in "perilous anti-social behavior by indulging in sexual relations with the daughters and wives of close friends"
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
<i>The author suggest that Joseph engaged in "perilous anti-social behavior by indulging in sexual relations with the daughters and wives of close friends, albeit mostly in marital and religious contexts."</i>Author's sources:
- No source given.
FAIR's Response
Fact checking results: This claim contains propaganda - The author, or the author's source, is providing information or ideas in a slanted way in order to instill a particular attitude or response in the reader
Sexual relations in a marital context is not an "anti-social" act. If all the data are taken into account (i.e., the Hancock autobiography) all were sanctioned in this way (see above).
- There is scant evidence that Joseph had sexual relations with any polyandrous wife.
- 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)
Ignoring Hancock autobiography (edit)
See also ch. 3: 237
Response to claim: 51 - The author states that "…LDS leaders denied violating Illinois law…."
The author(s) of Nauvoo Polygamy make(s) the following claim:
<i>The author states that "…LDS leaders denied violating Illinois law…."</i>Author's sources:
- No source given.
FAIR's Response
Hiding polygamy (edit)
See also ch. 4: 247
The author suggests that today there is "the continued abusive coercion of underage girls in polygamous communities," and that although polygamy has been repeatedly condemned by the modern Church, "the Nauvoo beginnings of the practice remain in LDS scripture as Section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants and in the church's temple sealings."Author's sources:
- Newspaper articles on "fundamentalist" plural marriage
Notes
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