OK, I’ll bite. How many other prominent religious leaders of the 19th century married 14-year-olds? How common was it for 13-year-olds to get married, especially outside of the frontier? You have to keep in mind that Nauvoo was as large as Chicago, and not some one-room shack on in the sticks. IIRC Laura expresses surprise about the marriage and talks disparagingly of the mother.
I’m aware of studies which show the average age of marriage for women in the US in 1840 to be around 18-19 years of age. Outside of a few possible frontier marriages, it would seem as scandal, especially for someone who was in their late 30s, let alone as a secret marriage. One noted scholar pointed out that in New Jersey in 1848-50, as an example, only 0.1 percent of the women married at 14 years or younger.
The problem which you and Sattua are glossing over is that these marriages to Smith were polygamous and because of Smith’s position as almost a demi-god in a tight-knit group waiting for and expecting the Second Coming, inherently coercive.
Helen Mar Kimball, one of the 14-year-olds Smith married, was the daughter of Smith’s close associate.
Regardless if a very small percentage of girls on the frontier (which Nauvoo was not) were getting married, it would still be unconscionable for a religious leader of Smith’s status to obtain girls for marriage in that manner.
The articles I’ve seen have been very sloppy, mostly just quoting from the one-sided essay. Non-apologetic historians have established that some of the marriages were sexual, but there is no “proof” ether way for some of them. That argument just seems to be an bazaar attempt to somehow minimize the ickiness of the whole deal.
Surprisingly, yes. Mormons have attempted to make that whole thing go away, especially for Smith’s marriages to girls and his polyandrous relationships, as the former does not sit well morally and the latter were expressly forbidden by his own claimed revelation on the matter.
The church apparently has really attempted to erase the memories of polygamy, going so far as to portray Brigham Young as monogamist, skipping the other 54 wives, and editing his teachings which reflected polygamy. Likewise biographies of other early pioneers have any mention their other wives or sister wives removed.
One example is Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young, where the “Jacobs” was her original husband, “Smith” is Joseph and “Young” is Brigham, who married Zina after Smith’s death.
This theme of Smith getting chicks by claiming his life was threatened by an angel happens a number of times.
Anyway, back to Zina. After Smith is killed, Young claimed Zina for himself, calling her legal husband on a mission to England.
For the LDS church take on the circumstances:
While one poster expressed a disinterest in the human drama and heartbreak these relationships entailed, polygamy was a very lonely and sad experience for almost all of the women.
Had the Internet not happened, then the issue would have gradually faded away as people became further and further removed from their polygamous ancestors. I’m fifth and sixth generation Mormon, with several polygamous great-great and great-great-great grandparents. Each subsequent generation adds another “great” and the family stories become dimmer.
Mormonism has always portrayed itself as a literal religion, that the events in the Book of Mormon actually occurred. That God and Jesus actually appeared to Joseph Smith. That Smith had actually translated some Egyptian papyri which Abraham had written himself. That the church is lead by people who regularly communicate directly with God.
Prior to the Internet, there were very few who had access to the unedited history of Smith, Young, other leaders and all the teachings and events prior to the period around 1920 when the doctrine became more fixed. When teachings and histories conflicted with the sanitized version, it would be labeled as “anti-Mormon” and members were told to shun it, much like early Christianity went through several centuries before settling on an orthodox version.
However, there simply is too much information available, and as it has become more and more accessible to average members, more and more members have stumbled on the troubling issues and have left the church. For those of us growing up hearing stories such as that of Zina, and then to find out that the church misrepresented the facts has led many to decide to leave. The church has acknowledged that these historical issues is causing an unprecedented number of people to leave the religion.
Here is one good place to start. The blog has many of the more liberal members who still believe, while a number of conservatives also interact with them.
Here is a podcast by a really liberal, non-believing member. The negative comments run much higher. One interesting comment.
As a note, the Mormon church is lead by a president and his two counselors and then the Quorum of the 12, modeled after Jesus’ apostles. The 3 in the presidency + the Q12 makes up the Big 15 as us ex-Mormons call them, or The Brethren as the Mormons say.
This is very typical, that member now did not know Smith practiced polygamy, let alone issues of age and polyandry.
Anyway, that’s my [del]novel[/del] story, and I’m sticking to it.
