used to wonder about this when I was active in church. Knowing that if polygamy returned a husband would have been checking out the Beehives, MiaMaids and Laurels for his next victim.
I think the teachings of Jesus were quite clear... he that looketh upon another woman hath already committed adultery in his heart.
Yet you had all these LDS men looking around, checking out girls and women, looking for who they could get.
I guess Jesus was just sharing his opinion. ;-)
~dancer~
I suppose you could say he was just speaking as a man. :o)
I may be going to hell in a bucket, babe / But at least I'm enjoying the ride.
-Grateful Dead (lyrics by John Perry Barlow)
I am sure womewhere in my after the manifesto polygamy file, I have a comment somewhere about Tanner, one of the rich and powerful Salt lake City Mormons. The young boys were complaining after seeing Tanner courting one of the young girls in the city at the Hotel Utah. It may have been in Cannon's book.
About if the first wives knew their future "sisters": in my family history, an ancestor brought back a bunch of English converts when he returned to the valley after his mission in England. Among those were two sisters. Their mother was promised by my ancestor that they would find a good home and marry well. The day he arrived in the valley, he took the two sisters to Brigham and was sealed to both of them. He then walked them home to his family he hadn't seen in over (3) three years.
When the mother arrived in the valley one year later she was quite shocked to see how well her daughters had married.
I detest my loose style and my libertine sentiments. I thank God, who has removed from my eyes the veil... Adrian Beverland
I have only anecdotes. The one I am most familiar with is my great-great grandfather and great-great grandmother. In her journal she records him coming home from a meeting with the Brethren looking distressed. She inquired what was wrong and he said that if he and his wife agreed he was to take another wife. She records him saying that he wanted no other woman but her and that if he was to marry again it would be with her consent. After discussing at length it was decided that she would begin the search for someone else. She favored her sister and he agreed and they were married.
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo
I figure it worked kinda like that TV show Eliminidate----except with less hot tubbing, go carting, and bowling and more prayer, guilt, and ugly clothes that show no skin.
"Whatever appears to be against the Book of Mormon is going to be overturned at some time in the future. So we can be pretty open minded."-charity 3/7/07
Some women recorded negative feelings in their journal after seeing their husband dancing, flirting, and taking young girls out for carriage rides, so there must have been some form of courting going on. (I remember reading at least one account that mentioned something about an old man making a fool of himself....)
Whether or not the wives had to give their consent was up to the husband, and during the "reformation", monogamous men were mocked for being hen-pecked by their wife if they didn't get another wife. During his court testimony, one of the prophets (I think Lorenzo Snow, but can't recall off the top of my head) admitted that the wife's consent was not required for taking another wife. I'll try to find the reference.
We hate to seem like we don’t trust every nut with a story, but there’s evidence we can point to, and dance while shouting taunting phrases.
beastie wrote:Some women recorded negative feelings in their journal after seeing their husband dancing, flirting, and taking young girls out for carriage rides, so there must have been some form of courting going on. (I remember reading at least one account that mentioned something about an old man making a fool of himself....)
I can't even imagine how ridiculous that must have looked to see these old religous men flirting and courting teenagers. Yuck.
Whether or not the wives had to give their consent was up to the husband, and during the "reformation", monogamous men were mocked for being hen-pecked by their wife if they didn't get another wife. During his court testimony, one of the prophets (I think Lorenzo Snow, but can't recall off the top of my head) admitted that the wife's consent was not required for taking another wife. I'll try to find the reference.
LDS polygamists had sanction to take new brides even if their other wives refused to consent curtesy of section 132.
65 Therefore, it shall be lawful in me, if she receive not this law, for him to receive all things whatsoever I, the Lord his God, will give unto him, because she did not believe and administer unto him according to my word; and she then becomes the transgressor; and he is exempt from the law of Sarah, who administered unto Abraham according to the law when I commanded Abraham to take aHagar to wife.
so the consent amounted to nothing and this was pointed out in court during the Reed-Smoot hearings.
Last edited by Anonymous on Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:25 am, edited 2 times in total.
I imagine it was like today's church dances, except the married women were at home with the kids while their husbands went to the dance. According to Fanny Stenhouse (I think that was her name) married men did court young women in the usual way, putting on their fancy suits, grooming their hair, etc. in preparation for their big date while their wife took care of the kids. It only seems weird because of "presentism."
"We of this Church do not rely on any man-made statement concerning the nature of Deity. Our knowledge comes directly from the personal experience of Joseph Smith." - Gordon B. Hinckley
"It's wrong to criticize leaders of the Mormon Church even if the criticism is true." - Dallin H. Oaks
beastie wrote:Thanks, seven, that is EXACTLY what I was trying to remember, the reed-smoot hearings.
I can't find the reference for it yet so I edited that out of my post until I know for sure. I remember reading about one of the Prophets being questioned in court about the consent but it could have been during the Edmond Tucker hearings. I am reading through the Reed Smoot portions right now so I'll post it when I find the exact reference.
"Happiness is the object and design of our existence... That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another." Joseph Smith