There is substantial evidence to show that Joseph Smith was sealed to the wives of other men. This occurred while the men were still legally married to their wives. Sometimes these second marriages even occurred outside the presence of their husbands. Many of the poor guys were on their missions when Joseph Smith married their wives. The most unfortunate men came back from their missions with their wives pregnant. How would you feel if the Prophet asked you for your wife? How would you feel if you came back from a business trip or a mission to find your wife months into pregnancy?

I should not be leaving the female audience out of this debate. How do you think the women felt about this? Their husbands were away on missions, and Joseph, a "Prophet of God", desired to marry them and have them for himself. What would your response be to this?

The question has now been asked of you, "Would you give your wife to Joseph Smith or any Prophet?" What is your response?

If you said, "Yes", then you share the same answer that some men gave to Joseph.

In this article we are going to be dealing with a couple of issues. There are going to be a lot of people that have no idea what I am talking about, so I have provided a lot of my documentation in this article.

The first hint that led me to believe that Joseph Smith married the wives of other men was in a speech given by Jedidiah Grant on February 19, 1854. (See Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, pg. 14)

Imagine yourself listening to a sermon by the second counselor of the Prophet:

"I would ask you if Jehovah has not in all ages tried His people by the power of Lucifer and his associates; and on the other hand, has He not tried them and proved them by His Prophets? Did the Lord actually want Abraham to kill Isaac? Did the Prophet Joseph want every man's wife he asked for? He did not, but in that thing was the grand thread of the Priesthood developed. The grand object in view was to try the people of God, to see what was in them. If such a man of God should come to me and say, "I want your gold and silver, or your wives," I should say, "Here they are, I wish I had more to give you, take all I have got."

There are a couple of ways that you could interpret this sermon. First, you could say that Joseph Smith never asked such things, but this has been verified by reliable accounts, including one of Heber C.Kimball (Stanley Kimball, "Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer", University of Illinois Press, 1981, pg.93). The second foreseeable argument is that this was only a "test".

In this lengthy article I will attempt to show that Joseph Smith not only asked for the wives of married men, but that he actually married them both for "time" and "eternity". Some may then argue that Joseph never consummated the relationships. This may be difficult for me to prove, but I will make an effort at it.

Going back to Jeridiah's speech. He alluded to the story of Isaac and Abraham when Abraham was going to sacrifice his son (Genesis 22).

Think about it - "Would there have been a threat to Isaac if Abraham did not have a knife to slay his son? Would Isaac have been in jeopardy if his father had not bound him?" In my opinion, there would have been no test if there wasn't the possibility that Isaac could have been killed.

Now I pose a similar question "How could Joseph be testing men if there was not the knowledge that he had already married other men's wives?" In my opinion, the threat of Joseph marring another man's wife was real -- Joseph had married the wives of other men! This I intend to show to you beyond any reasonable doubt.

In my attempt to show that Joseph married other men's wives I will use some "anti" Mormon sources. But, because I realize that my Mormon audience will likely ignore these sources I will keep them to a minimum.

It's very interesting to note that it was the apostates and non-Mormons that showed that Joseph Smith practiced polygamy during the early years of the church. At this time, the LDS Church and Joseph Smith denied the practice, yet now, almost everyone knows that Joseph had plural wives. At that time there was truth to the apostate's statements and there is truth to their statements today.

Josephin moniavioisia vaimoja

S. 27.9.1801
Toinen aviomies: George Washington Harris 12.1.1831
Ensimmäinen aviomies: kuuluisa vapaamuurarien menojen paljastaja ja 1828 murhattu William Morgan

Joseph Smith avioitui todennäköisesti Lucindan kanssa v. 1838, kun hän asui Harrisien kodissa Far Westissä (History of the Church, vol. 3, pg. 9). Tätä tukee rouva Sarah Prattin lausunto: "Rouva Harris oli nainut rouva, erittäin hyvä ystäväni. Kun Joseph oli yrittänyt inhottavalla tavalla vietellä minut [1842], menin rouva Harrisin luo keventämään suruani hänelle. Hämmästykseni oli rajaton, kun hän sanoi, nauraen sydämellisesti: 'Kuinka typerä oletkaan! Minähän olen ollut hänen rakastajattrensa neljän vuoden ajan'." (Mormon Portraits, 1886, p. 60)

Prescindia Huntington Buell

S. 7.9.1810
Aviomies: Norman Buell 1837

Utahin kirkon historioitsija Andrew Jensen antaa Prescindian ja Josephin avioitumisen päivämääräksi 11.12.1841. Prescindian veli toimitti vihkimisen. V. 1846 Prescindia jätti Normanin ja avioitui myöhemmin Heber C. Kimballin kanssa. (No Man Knows My History, Fawn Brodie, p. 462)

Jotkut voivat väittää, ettei Joseph koskaan täyttänyt aviovelvollisuuttaan Prescindian kanssa. Hänen poikansa Oliver saattaa kuitenkin olla Josephin poika. Huntingtonin perhe piti Oliveria profeetan poikana, joka sinetöitiin Josephiin. Päiväkirjan kohdassa 14.11.1884, joka koskee Oliver Huntingtonia, sanotaan: "Sitten olin profeetta Joseph Smithin sijaisena, kun sisareni Prescindian lapsi, jonka hän sai asuessaan Norman Buellin kanssa, adoptoitiin tai sinetöitiin [Joseph Smithiin].

Joseph opetti Nancylle moniavioisuuden periaatteen todennäköisesti silloin, kun Orson Hyde oli lähetystyössä Palestiinassa. V. 1841 Nancylle annettiin Josephin kautta suora ilmoitus, jonka mukaan hänen piti "ottaa vaarin palvelijani Josephin neuvoista kaikissa asioissa, mitä hän hänelle sitten opettaakin." History of the Church, vol. 4, pg. 467

Nancyn lapsista kaksi on voinut olla Josephin siittämiä. Poika Frank Henry esimerkiksi syntyi 23.1.1845. Orson Hyde oli lähtenyt lähetystyömatkalle Washingtoniin 4.4.1844 "välittömästi" tavattuaan Joseph Smithin. History of the Church, pg. 286

Raskausaika on keskimäärin 266 päivää (ei aivan 9 kuukautta). Tietenkin tuo luku on keskimääräinen ja vaihtelee. Vain 4% raskauksista jatkuu kaksi viikkoa tai pidempään tuon keskimääräisen ajan ohi. Guttmacher, 1983

Frank Henry syntyi siis 23.1.1845. Orson Hyde lähti Washingtoniin 4.4.1844. Aikaero näiden kahden päivämäärän välillä on 294 päivää — melkein kuukauden odotettua pidempi ja todennäköisesti fysiologisesti mahdoton varsinkin kun otetaan huomioon, ettei Orson Hyde ollut palannut Nauvooseen ennen kuin vasta 6.8.1844. Andrew Jenson, Church Chronology, August 6, 1844

S. 31.1.1821
Aviomies: Henry B. Jacobs 7.3.1841

Joseph Smith was married to Zina shortly after her marriage to Henry Jacobs. Zina has been recorded as saying, "I wish to bear my testimony to the principle of celestial marriage, that it is true ... I became [Joseph's] wife at this time in Nauvoo and I never in my life had a rebellious thought against that principle, for which I thank the Lord." (Collected Discourses, vol. 5, Joseph F. Smith, December 23, 1894)

Statements written by apostates strengthen this evidence. For instance, John D. Lee wrote that "I then took a tour down through Illinois [winter 1842]. H.B. Jacobs accompanied me as a fellow companion on the way. Jacobs was bragging about his wife, what a true, virtuous, lovely woman she was. He almost worshipped her. Little did he think that in his absence she was sealed to Prophet Joseph" (Mormonism Unveiled, p 132, "anti"). William Hall's statement in his book supported this statement further: " A Mr. Henry Jacobs had his wife seduced by Joe Smith, in his time, during a mission to England." (The Abominations of Mormonism Exposed, pg. 43-44, "anti").

Zina ei jättänyt Jacobsia ennen kuin v. 1846, mikä merkitsee sitä, että Joseph Smith meni naimisiin jo avioituneen naisen kanssa.

Lisätietoa löytyy Zinan päiväkirjasta: "All Things Move in Order in the City": The Nauvoo Diary of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs, Edited by Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, BYU Studies, Vol. 19, No. 3, p.285.

Mary admitted her marriage to Joseph Smith in a public address. She said in part, "I am the first being that the revelation was given to him for and I was one thousand miles away in Missouri, for we went up to Jackson County in 1841 ..... I went forward and was sealed to him. Brigham young performed the sealing, and Heber C. Kimball the blessing. I know he had six wives and I have known some of them from childhood up. I knew he had three children. They told me. I think two are living today, but they are not known as his children as they go by other names." (Mary Lightner, 1905 Address, typescript, BYU, Pg. 2-3)

In another statement Mary Lightner said, "Joseph said I was his before I came here and he said all the Devils in Hell should never get me from him. I was sealed to him in the Masonic Hall, over the old brick store by Brigham Young in February 1842 and then again in the Nauvoo Temple by Heber C. Kimball." (Original sworn affidavit owned by Mrs. Nell Osborne of Salt Lake City, February 8, 1902).

S. 4.2.1795
Husband: David Sessions 28.6.1812

Patty Sessions was sealed to Joseph Smith on March 9, 1842 as indicated by her personal journal entry, "I was sealed to Joseph Smith by Willard Richards March 9, 1842, in Newel K. Whitney's chamber, Nauvoo, for time and all eternity ...."

Brigham Young reported the marriage of his sister to Joseph Smith in the Journal of Discourse: "As far as this pertains to our natural lives here, there are some who say it is very hard. They say, 'This is rather a hard business; I don't like my husband to take a plurality of wives in the flesh.' Just a few words upon this. We would believe this doctrine entirely different from what it is presented to us, if we could do so. If we could make every man upon the earth get him a wife, live righteously and serve God, we would not be under necessity, perhaps, of taking more than one wife. But they will not do this; the people of God, therefore, have been commanded to take more wives. The women are entitled to salvation if they live according to the word that is given to them .... I recollect a sister conversing with Joseph Smith on this subject.... Joseph said, 'Sister, you talk very foolishly, you do not know what you will want.' He then said to me [B.Y.]: 'Here, brother Brigham you seal this lady to me.' I sealed her to him. This was my own sister according to the flesh." (Journal of Discourses, vol. 16, pg. 166-167).

The marriage ceremony occurred on November 2, 1843 according to Andrew Jenson, LDS Church Historian. (No Man Knows My History, Fawn Brodie, pg. 484, "anti").

Moniavioisuus oli vastoin lakia

"Bigamy consists in the having of two wives or two husbands at one and the same time, knowing that the former husband or wife is still alive. If any person or persons within the State, being married, or who shall hereafter marry, do at any time marry any person or persons, the former husband or wife being alive, the person so offended shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine, not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisoned in the penitentiary, not exceeding two years." (Revised Laws of Illinois, Vandalia: Greiner & Sherman, 1833, pg. 198-199).

Moniavioisuus oli vastoin oppeja ja liittoja

"Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in the case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again."
(History of the Church, vol. 2, pg. 247. Tämä luku oli mukana jokaisessa Opin ja Liittojen kirjan painoksessa aina vuoteen 1876, jolloin luku 132 liitettiin siihen).

One of the best books on the subject is Mormon Polygamy: A History by Richard S. Van Wagoner, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, 1989, 2nd edition.

Another source which may be helpful is Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 29, No. 2 "A Trajectory of Plurality: An Overview of Joseph Smith's Thirty-three Plural Wives".

Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 27, No.1, Spring 1994 "Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841-46: A Preliminary Demographic Report" by George D. Smith. pp.1-72.