Several members of my extended family are really into genealogy and family history, so I regularly get sent the transcription of family journals, or compiled family histories, and most often lately, individual biographies. I really appreciate the work put into this!Doctor Steuss wrote: ↑Tue Apr 15, 2025 3:43 pmThe account of one of Brigham Young's non favorite wives and their children having to schedule meetings in order to beg for money while living in near destitution, while Young and his favorite wives and their children lived in luxury is both heart-wrenching and sickening.Kishkumen wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 7:52 pmThe big story here is not the false claim about Kimball, which is silly in the extreme, but the idea that one polygamist man could be an effective father for the children of all his many wives (Kimball had 43). The neglect that follows the demographic imbalance of polygamy leads to a lot of evils. Failures in the home, and dangerous repercussions for the community. One man creates many sons, many of whom will receive little attention and even scanter opportunity for a marriage of their own, and then trouble ensues. The great riches of one man, as is so often the case, lead to the poverty of many men and disorder in the community.
However, some of them are utterly heartbreaking to read. There are stories of second wives who were banished when their husband died and they were left to scrape out an existence for themselves and their (invariably, many, many) children. Or the abandoned first wives whose husbands were sent off to a new location with their (much younger) second wife. That one resulted in my grandfather never seeing his mother again after age 17.
The worst was the history of a woman, still under 30, who was pregnant with her sixth child when her husband went to salt lake for a week-long vacation, to "court" the 16 year old who would be his second wife. This vacation was arranged and paid for by his family. She had to witness his wedding when they came back, and then died several weeks later, in child birth. Her husband's child bride gave birth eight months later.
Even my hard core Mormon relative, who wrote up her history, conceded she died of a broken heart. It was devastating to read.
But yes, That's the legacy Young and Smith have left us.