Plural Marriage

Joseph Smith taught that “a welding link … between the fathers and the children …” must be “whole and complete and perfect” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:18). The words welding link suggest a chain. Chains are strong things. They hold under great stress and pressure.

Here is a look at some of the interesting things we have learned from "Saints, vol. 2" as we anticipate the release of the next volume.

This week’s ‘Come, Follow Me’ lesson includes Official Declarations 1 and 2, which involve policy changes within the Church.

Editor's note: "Scenes from Saints" is a series of articles highlighting interesting facts from the second volume of Saints. This is the third article in the series.Part one shares facts about the building of the St. George, Logan, and Salt Lake temples,and part two shares facts about early missionary work. Articles will be posted weekly during November and December 2020. You can purchase both volumes ofSaintsthrough Deseret Bookor read and listen to the volumes on the Gospel Library app under the “Restoration and Church History” section.

Editor's note: Exactly 130 years ago today, on September 25, 1890, President Wilford Woodruff wrote in his journal that “After Praying to the Lord & feeling inspired by his spirit I have issued . . . [a] Proclamation.” That proclamation is now known as the Manifesto and was published in the Doctrine and Covenants as Official Declaration 1. This article originally ran on LDS Living in 2017 and is being shared again for the 130th anniversary of the day Official Declaration 1 was released to the public on September 25.

One of author Dean Hughes' favorite pioneer stories starts out with his angry, somewhat intoxicated ancestor trying to punch out an early Latter-day Saint apostle.

"Yes, I saw by vision and revelation this [Logan] Temple in the hands of the wicked. I saw our city [Salt Lake City] in the hands of the wicked. I saw every temple in these valleys in the hands of the wicked. I saw great destruction among the people" (Wilford Woodruff, "Discourses of Wilford Woodruff," Deseret Book Company).

Whether you’re a history buff or simply curious, you have probably collected a decent store of knowledge about important events in Church history. But no matter how much you thought you knew, there are a surprising number of fascinating facts that you might have overlooked. Here is an interesting story from a time when polygamy was still practiced in Salt Lake.

When James A. Garfield took the oath of office as the new president of the United States of America in 1881, Mormonism was a heavily contested topic in much of the nation. As one of the largest territories in the nation at the time, Utah kept pushing for acceptance as a state, but many Americans feared the "peculiar" Mormons and their practices—including polygamy.

Recently, an NPR podcast cleared up common misconceptions people both inside and outside the Church have about the Mormon practice of polygamy in the 1800s, sharing how the practice actually empowered women in complex ways. The podcast featured Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a Harvard professor who recently published the book A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism.

We often have more in common with the early saints than we think. Then as with today, inaccurate stories circulated about Mormons and what we believe. And in the early 1900s when inaccurate stories of Mormons abounded, a defender of Mormonism came in the form of a prominent, nonmember attorney in Salt Lake City.

The topic of Joseph Smith's multiple wives is one that has been controversial for some in the Church, and so has the question of whether or not he had children with those wives. But new DNA research has shed some light on these questions.

Check out this fascinating article which shows what Book of Mormon prophets thought of polygamy and also why polygamy was practiced in the early days of the Church.

The Church recently released a historic and unprecedented new project: a compilation of Church documents—many of which are written by women and many of which have never been published before. These documents detail the formation of the largest women's organization in the world: the Relief Society.

What a sweet testimony of the love and understanding we should all have for each other: "I have been an active member of the LDS Church now for 10 years and have never once felt like an outcast because of my background. Every time I have opened my mouth or told someone about my background, they have always treated me with love, kindness and understanding. . . During my childhood, I was taught that the LDS Church would require me to disavow my family and friends, but in my experience that was not true."

Professor of Mormon Studies Kathleen Flake is creating a digital database of polygamous marriages in the early Mormon Church. Flake hopes to use this information to better understand the reason these early Saints chose to live in plural families as well as the nature of these family relationships.

The LDS Church continued enhancing the Gospel Topics pages on its website on Monday, posting one titled "Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah." The essay addresses plural marriage among Latter-day Saints between 1847 and 1890, when the practice was discontinued after church leaders issued what is known as the Manifesto. The new Gospel Topics page includes 25 footnotes, several citing research done by outside historians. It also has links to additional information.

We all want to be good member missionaries, and usually we can answer questions about our religion without too much difficulty. But occasionally a particularly difficult question comes up. Thankfully, the Church is providing valuable resources and very recently released new topic pages to help with these challenging questions at the "Gospel Topics" section of LDS.org.

Current talk in the media sometimes calls this "The Mormon Moment." A hit musical on Broadway, "The Book of Mormon," has won multiple Tony awards. Posters in busses and on billboards nationwide show pictures of a great variety of people declaring, "I am a Mormon." Mormons are making headlines -- again. Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, and Jon Huntsman, former governor of Utah and ambassador to China, have been running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Though Jon has left the race, his less identifiable Mormonism was as much a part of his persona as Mitt's more tithe-paying traditional look. But this is far from the first time Mormonism and its beliefs have been in the national news. And one of the prime objections of the public to a Mormon in office is "polygamy."