Melody Tremain
Sarah Newlands
Forbidden Knowledge
Thursday, March 9, 2006
Back to Inquiry and Critical Thinking
Marriage in the Mormon Society:
Illegal or Divinely Appointed?
In the past two centuries, fundamentalist Mormons have changed polygamous marriages from a purely religious institution to set of relationships supported by a religious framework. This was the change in marriages from an earthly, temporary state to an eternally lasting covenant. Part of the relationships that are being built and helping this system to succeed are ties between the women within this plural marriage system and household.
It is necessary to bring in some definitions before we begin. A plural or polygamous marriage here means a marriage of one man and two or more wives, not typically taking place at the same time. A monogamous marriage involves only one man and one woman. A problem arises when we delve further into the matter, because, in the Mormon religion, there are at least two kinds of marriages, or unions. There is of course the earthly joining, with a ceremony preferably performed by a minister of the church, but law does not always allow that. Then there is the eternal sealing. This is a more or less secret ceremony carried out in and by the church, for the church alone. This seals the man and woman together during this life, and the next. In order to fully understand the necessity for this, an understanding of the pre- and after- life in this worldview is required, which we will return to.
This covers the two most widely accepted types of marriages within the Mormon system, the earthly or temporal marriage and the eternal or celestial marriage. The earthly or temporal marriage is what any person not within the Mormon system participates in. It is what is validated by our government and only applies here in this life.
I propose a division of the second category into two more specified relationships, similar to Daynes work (10). There are two types of “sealings” in the history of this system. The first to show up is the marriage that is only meant for the hereafter; it was intended only to be validated in the next life, not acted upon in this one. That is why estimates of the number of Joseph Smith’s wives can range as high as 85; he did not necessarily live with them or provide financially for them, and they did not even have to be divorced from their husbands if their husbands did not believe similarly. In this situation, it would be very simple to keep the sealing a secret. This was practiced briefly but enthusiastically by elders of the church, although there are allegations by former church members that this practice is secretly embraced through the present day (Van Wagoner, 195).
The other type of sealing, of both temporal and celestial nature, is what is considered the most widespread modern form of Mormon polygamy. This would be one man with three wives (for example), with each wife set up in her own house, with her own children and extended family around her. The wives would typically be friends and may or may not work together to accomplish large tasks for the good of the family. Generally, there is some kind of rotation schedule where each wife would spend two nights with her husband, before he cycles to the next. We will expand on this shortly.
To summarize, I will refer to three types of marriage here: earthly marriage, celestial marriage (next life only) and eternal, or plural, marriage (this life and the next).
When the Mormon movement began in New York, in April 1830, there had been a religious fervor sweeping the country, or rather, several religious fervors were sweeping the country, crashing and blending over the people, creating an epidemic of revivalist feeling. Many believed that Christ was coming soon to set up a millennial kingdom, as is evident in other faiths that cropped up in the same time period. “God could not have chosen a better place, a better time, or a better people than early nineteenth-centaury Americans for the ‘restoration of all things.’” (Van Wagoner, 1). It was following a decade of religious revival that Joseph Smith brought forth his revelation. Smith claimed a vision had been given to him of the angel Morani. This vision included several gold plates that were to be translated into the Book of Mormon. This book, which is considered to be the sequel to the Bible, speaks of polygamy in a very distinct manner; “Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none”(Jacob, 2:27), and “For behold, he did not keep the commandments of God, but he did walk after the desires of his own heart. And he had many wives and concubines•. And he did cause• his people to commit sin, and do that which was abominable• in the sight of the Lord” (Mosiah, 11:2). This reflected Smiths public attitude about polygamy until approximately 1840, when he began to collect wives and support polygamous marriages (Foster, 131). Still, even following the prophets martyrdom in 1844, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints did not declare a doctrine of polygamous marriage until 1852. Church leaders had been practicing plural marriage for over a decade by then, to the dismay of some prominent church families.
The church continued to more or less support polygamy until September 24th, 1890, when the president and prophet at the time Wilford Woodruff publicly announced the church’s withdrawal of support of polygamous families. After this point, the numbers of plural families began to dwindle down to their current levels.
As with nearly all religious doctrines, there are at least two explanations. In this case, they are intertwined quite completely.
The idea that many instinctively rebel against is quite intricate. It rests upon the claim that God was and is a man just like any other man, bound by space, a physical body, and time. “Implicit in this new view of God was the awesome and intoxicating possibility that men could progress towards full godhood” (Foster, 144). In heaven, men who were a part of an eternal sealing would be leaders, encircled by their families and servants who had not become a part of an eternal sealing. “Through the “eternal increase” of such godlike patriarchs by means of their children, grandchildren, and so forth, they would eventually move on to rule over whole new worlds, achieving full godhood with their wives in what could easily be seen as a kind of ‘manifest destiny’” (Foster, 145). It is at this point, where the public explanation comes in. The official doctrine and reasoning of polygamy was to “provid(e) physical bodies for the infinite swarm of procreated spirits waiting in heaven for a chance to be born on earth” (Young, 103).
Interestingly enough, since the 1890’s the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has more or less fully co-operated with local and federal authorities in discouraging plural marriages and even working with them to bring known polygamists to justice. When and if the topic comes up in polite company, it is treated as an embarrassing relic of the past (personal observation).
When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints proclaimed its opposition to polygamous marriages, several groups broke off of the main body to create and allow polygamous marriages within the group. The largest and longest lasting of these groups is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This group recently made headlines as a faction began building a community in Texas, worrying residents there as memories of Waco that are refusing to fade.
In More Wives than One, Kathryn Daynes makes a detailed study of a town called Manti (10 & 11). Manti has a long history of both a Mormon population and of plural and celestial marriage. She provides some very interesting statistics. Within her database, she discovered 155 men who had had a plural and/or celestial marriage before or during the time they lived in Manti. These men had a total of 444 wives, 21 of which appeared to have been in celestial marriages only, although it is a difficult distinction to make. Out of the men, four were in plural marriage before moving to Manti, but not during their residence there, and another four whose wives appeared to be celestial only. Within this set of data there is a huge variety of backgrounds and histories. For example, some plural marriages lasted over half a century, while some lasted only three months. This is the city where the True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days was formed in 1994.
Between these
and other groups of varying sizes, estimates of current levels of polygamous
families are produced. According to Daynes, the most generally accepted figures
for the end of the twentieth century are about 30,000 to 35,000 families (210).
Figure 1: Possible Polygamous
Family Tree 
Figure 2: A Possible Monogamous Family Tree
For now, let us reference current Mormon polygamous practice as fundamentalist practice.
In fundamentalist practice, one of the major differences between them and the founders of the practice (of plural marriage), is that the daughters of polygamists are now not only encouraged to become plural wives, but at a younger age of teenager-hood than most would deem necessary (Daynes, 211).
In Figure 1, we see a family tree in which nearly all members have participated in plural marriage, with the majority of men having three wives. Notice the amount of offspring also; generally there were three of either gender, and only about 1/3 of each generation marrying and procreating. This is compared to the tree (Figure 2), in which there are no polygamous arrangements at all. Here, each couple has fewer children, not numbering higher than three, intending to reflect the American average of 2.5 children per family.
These graphs are an attempt at visualizing the dramatic differences between family systems. There are 25 more people in Figure 1 than in Figure 2, with about 5% more being female. It is immediately obvious how much more full the first figure is, but it is hard to comprehend how far it ought to really spread out. Fundamentalist practice follows fairly closely to founders practice in that each family was (and is) composed of usually three wives, with approximately, or just over, seven children per woman (Altman & Ginat, 83). No single woman in Figure 1 has more than five children.
With such a large number of people within one family unit, living arrangements are interesting to setup. Altman and Ginat give a concise and detailed outline of basic polygamous households.
They concur that there are three simple types of homes within their sub-group, the dyadic, communal, and mixed dyadic and communal dwellings. Dyadic dwellings are the most common in fundamentalist practice, perhaps because it not only allows each wife her own space, but gives her a household of her own to run. I described a basic dyadic domicile earlier. It is where the wives share a minimum of space, and rarely work together except on large projects such as a family reunion once a month.
A pure communal living arrangement is actually quite rare. This would be a residence in which none of the wives would have her own personal space; everything would be shared, from kitchen to bedroom. All of the children would most likely be sorted by age and gender into shared bedrooms (such as a nursery for infants, a bedroom for somewhat older girls, ect.). Far more common though are mixed dyadic and communal accommodations. This might be one building, where each woman has a floor to herself, but one will cook and clean, while another goes to work, while another cares for the children.
As a result of the slightly more laissez-faire – but usually love based - relationship with the husband, these women will often become closer to one another and their children. As their lifestyle is considered an anomaly, the women who participate in such practices learn to lean upon one another. They develop close, personal relationships in ways that are literally impossible to grow in a monogamous marriage. Without cooperation and hard work, a polygamous marriage, just like any other, would fail.
Works Cited
Altman, Irwin, and Joseph Ginat. Polygamous Families in Contemporary Society. Melbourne: University of Cambridge, 1996. 1-446. These are the nuts and bolts of how families work when they are a polygamous family. It includes ceremonies, living arrangements, and family structure.
Bartholomew, Rebecca. Audacious Women. Signature Books, 1995. 1-258. Bartholomew writes about one hundred women from the Mormon Church. She includes at least two sources from each, and also the prevailing attitudes about the Mormon Church and its women.
Campos, Sister. Personal interview. 20 Feb. 2006. This was an interview questioning two current members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints about their perceptions of the topic about which I am writing. Mostly they just confirmed that what I was reading is fairly accurate, and I appear to be writing from as inoffensive of a standpoint as possible.
Daynes, Kathryn M. More Wives Than One. Chicago: University of Illinois P, 2001. 1-282. This is a compilation of the effects of law and society on the Mormon marriage system. The town of Manti, Utah is the basis of the study, and all statistics are based upon that town and its history.
Embry, Jessie L. Mormon Polygamous Families. Vol. 1. Salt Lake City: University of Utah P, 1987. 1-194. This book proclaims its intention to encourage creation and submission of Mormon-related topics that would be of interest to scholars and the general public.
Foster, Lawrence. Religion and Sexuality. Chicago: University of Illinois, 1984. 123-245. This is a comparison of the attitudes and practices of three different religions, the Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community. This includes topics ranging from incest and polygamy, to women and religious authority.
Van Wagoner, Richard S. Mormon Polygamy: A History. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1986. 1-222. A view of polygamy from a Mormon standpoint, written by a Mormon. The author claims to have carefully weighed several sources bias against each other, and claims that the modern Church avoids the topic in embarrassment.
Young, Kimball. Isn't One Wife Enough? Westport: Greenwood P, 1954. 1-460. This book aims to tell the story of how individuals can accept changes in habits and values quickly and decisively. It summarizes the few short years during which Mormonism truly exploded and the how and why of that period.