I’m looking for hard evidence of Joseph Smith’s 1831 plural marriage revelation. There are lots of anti-Mormon sites that mention it, but I’m looking for non-anti-Mormon primary sources. Some leads might be:

  • Can anyone confirm this quote from Widstoe’s book? “The evidence seems clear that the revelation on plural marriage was received by the Prophet as early as 1831” (John A. Widstoe, Joseph Smith-Seeker After Truth, p.236).
  • Can someone confirm this from a primary source? Joseph F. Smith, the sixth president of the church, once stated: “The great and glorious principle of plural marriage was first revealed to Joseph Smith in 1831, but being forbidden to make it public, or to teach it as a doctrine of the Gospel, at that time, he confided the facts to only a very few of his intimate associates. Among them were Oliver Cowdery and Lyman E. Johnson . . .” (As quoted in Historical Record, 1887, vol. 6, p.219).
  • Can anyone confirm this quote: “A recently discovered document is a copy of a purported revelation of 1831 that instructed seven missionaries in Missouri as follows: ‘For it is my will, that in time, ye should take unto you wives of the Lamanites and Nephites that their posterity may become white, delightsome and just, for even now their females are more virtuous than the gentiles.'” The Mormon Experience, page 195

Also, is there a verifiable date as to Joseph’s second marriage–to Fanny Alger?

Please help if you can.

10 Comments

  1. J. Stapley December 2, 2005 at 12:33 pm

    I am away from my materials, but I don’t remember Compton or Bachmann citing the revelation. If it was extant I have to believe that they would have used it. There is the possibility that it was recently made available through the Joseph Smith Papers project…but I doubt it. I don’t remember whether Compton gives a date for the Alger marriage or not. I’ll look it up later, if no one else does.

  2. Greg Call December 2, 2005 at 2:14 pm

    John,

    Richard Bushman deals with the possibility of an 1831 revelation on page 326 of Rough Stone Rolling. He says “…it seems possible that he received the revelation on plural marriage in 1831 while working on the Old Testament.” The footnote cites to Compton (pages 26-27), and mentions supporting accounts from Mosiah Hancock, Brigham Young, Joseph Bates Noble, Lyman Johnson, and William Phelps.

    None of these are “hard evidence,” but there probably all that is out there. Hope this helps.

  3. J. Stapley December 2, 2005 at 9:51 pm

    OOkay, first Compton states that the Alger marriage was likely in Feb or Mar of 1833. That is as good as we can get.

    Bachmann posits that Joseph received a revelation in Feb of 1831 while working on the Old Testament and that it may have been the first portion of Sec 132.

    The Widtsoe quote is correct. Here is the appropriate citation:

    The evidence seems clear that the revelation on plural marriage was received by the Prophet as early as 1831. A sermon delivered by Joseph F. Smith, then a counselor in the First Presidency, later the President of the Church, was reported as follows:

    Here the speaker said, perhaps for the first time in public, that the women who entered into plural marriage with the Prophet Joseph Smith were shown to him and named to him as early as 1831, and some of them were given in marriage to him as early as that date, although it was not then prudent, under the circumstances, to make these facts public. And when the Lord showed those women to Joseph some of them were not even acquainted with the Church much less him. God knew their hearts, as is proved by the fact that they have been true and faithful through all the trying vicissitudes through which they have passed, and that too in the face of a frowning world; they have endured it all, and are today examples of womanhood and purity. (Journal History, February 17, 1882; Deseret News, February 17, 1882)

    It seems that Fannie Alger was one of Joseph’s first plural wives. She lived many years after the Prophet’s death and never denied her relationship to him. (John A. Widtsoe, Joseph Smith – Seeker after Truth, Prophet of God [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1951] pg. 241)

    The last question about Lamanite and Nephite women was from a letter from W.W. Phelps to Brigham Young dated August 12, 1816 (original in the LDS Church Archives). Compton mentions it but Bachman’s treatment is the most in depth (pg. 68-73). Apparently Joseph Gave a revelation in July 17, 1831 to the missionaries, but there was no paper. It is not certain whether the Phelps document is a copy of Joseph’s subsequent recitation or Phelps’ recollection. It is in double columned versed format. There is ancillary support for the content.

  4. J. Stapley December 2, 2005 at 9:53 pm

    hmmm…your formatting doesn’t allow for nested blockquotes. This is the Widtsoe text:

    The evidence seems clear that the revelation on plural marriage was received by the Prophet as early as 1831. A sermon delivered by Joseph F. Smith, then a counselor in the First Presidency, later the President of the Church, was reported as follows:

    “Here the speaker said, perhaps for the first time in public, that the women who entered into plural marriage with the Prophet Joseph Smith were shown to him and named to him as early as 1831, and some of them were given in marriage to him as early as that date, although it was not then prudent, under the circumstances, to make these facts public. And when the Lord showed those women to Joseph some of them were not even acquainted with the Church much less him. God knew their hearts, as is proved by the fact that they have been true and faithful through all the trying vicissitudes through which they have passed, and that too in the face of a frowning world; they have endured it all, and are today examples of womanhood and purity. (Journal History, February 17, 1882; Deseret News, February 17, 1882)”

    It seems that Fannie Alger was one of Joseph’s first plural wives. She lived many years after the Prophet’s death and never denied her relationship to him. (John A. Widtsoe, Joseph Smith – Seeker after Truth, Prophet of God [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1951] pg. 241)

  5. J. Stapley December 2, 2005 at 10:32 pm

    I also forgot your other question. I can’t verify it with the primary sources as BYU doesn’t host electronic copies of the Deseret News that old and I am confused whether the quote is that of JSF as used by Andrew Jenson (Church Historian) or the words of Andrew Jenson used by JSF. Either way, the popular citation is that of either the Deseret News May 20, 1886, or the Historical Record (a periodical edited by Andrew Jenson), [Salt Lake City, Utah, May 1887]: 219.

  6. NFlanders December 3, 2005 at 2:12 am

    Stapley: I sincerely hope the letter from W.W. Phelps to Brigham Young wasn’t dated 1816! That would blow my mind. Was it 1861?

  7. J. Stapley December 3, 2005 at 10:41 am

    lol, 1861 it was.

  8. cadams December 3, 2005 at 10:56 am

    Stapley,

    Thanks for highlighting that second quote from Joseph F. Smith. That sheds a lot of light on the subject. I don’t think even “Mormon Enigma” had that.

  9. R. C. December 8, 2005 at 7:04 am

    The reason they (Farms, et al) say there was a revelation is because of the considerable circumstantial evidence of the relationship. Without the revelation, the relationship was adulterous.

  10. SpeakTheTruth December 12, 2005 at 5:46 pm

    R.C.,

    Or it was simply polygamous. Nothing wrong with it being Polygamous.

    Mark
    Speak The Truth

Comments are closed.