Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Chapter 4

Chapter 3 (pp. 159-240)

A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books A work by author: George D. Smith

Chapter 5 (pp. 325-351)

Claims made in "Chapter 4" (pp. 241-324)

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
241-248	William Clayton and plural marriage	William Clayton and plural marriage Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	See below William Clayton (edit)
243	The book speculates that John Bennett's marriage record "may have been deleted" after his disagreement with Joseph Smith.	No evidence that Bennett's relationships were ever sanctioned. John C. Bennett	No source provided. John C. Bennett (edit)
244	The book speculates that Joseph and Clayton were "conspiring to alter" his wife's "marital status."	Loaded and prejudicial language William Clayton and plural marriage Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	No source provided. William Clayton (edit)
245	Joseph instructed Clayton to send for Sarah Crookes, a close female friend he had known in England, to which Clayton replied that “nothing further than an attachment such as a brother and sister in the Church might rightfully entertain for each other” occurred between them. “But in fact,” G. D. Smith editorializes darkly, “Clayton’s journal recorded the depth of emotional intimacy he had shared with her."	William Clayton and plural marriage Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Smith, Intimate Chronicle, 32, 41, 52, 29, 556. William Clayton (edit)
245	Author's quote: "…instead of waiting for [Sarah’s] arrival, [Clayton] married his legal wife’s sister Margaret on April 27. This was before Sarah’s ship had even set sail from England."	The author strives to paint Clayton as unfaithful to both his first wife (having already had an inappropriate level of emotional intimacy with another woman and the woman against whom he "conspired" with Joseph. Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Smith, Intimate Chronicle, 94, 99, 107, 556. William Clayton (edit)
247	The author states: …Clayton wrote on October 19 about needing to protect "the truth" by telling untruths, in this case the strategic charade of publicly rebuking someone while privately embracing them. Clayton wrote about Smith's advice: "Says he[,] just keep her [Margaret, his plural wife] at home and brook it and if they raise trouble about it and bring you before me I will give you an awful scourging and probably cut you off from the church and then I will baptise you and set you ahead as good as ever." [Italics and quotation marks as in The author's original.]	The full text from the primary source is the material from "Says he..." to "...good as ever." The emphasis in italics with quotation marks is all the author's—none of the material about protecting "the truth" by telling untruths derives from Clayton or Joseph Smith. Yet, the use of quotation marks and italics, which George D. Smith says have been added to the primary source, makes it appear as if these are Clayton's or Joseph's words, not the author's.	Citation error The author's source is given as "Smith, Intimate Chronicle, 122 (emphasis added)." No italics have been added by the author to any portion of Clayton's journal. All italicized material is G.D. Smith's words, not Clayton's. William Clayton (edit)
247	The author states that William Clayton's journal " disclosed his own extracurricular romances."	Loaded and prejudicial language William Clayton and plural marriage Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	No source provided. William Clayton (edit)
247	The author then describes Clayton’s 1853 mission to England, during which, “instead of persuading the flock of the correctness of [polygamy], Clayton contributed to defections and was personally suspected of ‘having had unlawful intercourse with women.’”	Two hundred pages later, we learn that this suspicion was only because of his [Clayton’s] “discussion of plural marriage” (p. 445), and his [Smith’s] own introduction to Clayton’s journals tell us that the charge was actually raised by an “apostate Mormon,” whom Clayton claimed had maliciously distorted his words, leading to what he called his life’s most painful experience.[1] William Clayton and plural marriage Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Smith, Intimate Chronicle, xlviii-l. William Clayton (edit)
249	Author's quote: "The prophet went on to ask Benjamin [F. Johnson] for his sister Almera [in plural marriage], provoking his protégé to comment that if Smith did anything to 'dishonor or debauch his sister, he would have Benjamin to contend with. As Smith casually deflected this threat, his 'eye did not move from mine,' Johnson reported."	The author downplays Benjamin's actual threat: "Brother Joseph This is Something I did not Expect & I do not understand it—You know whether it is right. I do not. I want to do just as you tell me, and I will try. But if I [ever] should Know that you do this to Dishonor & debauch my Sister I will kill you as Shure as the Lord lives" Joseph does not "casually deflect" as is claimed. He promises revelation: "while his eye did not move from mine He Said with a Smile, in a soft tone ‘But Benjamin you will never know that. But you will know the principle is true and will greatly Rejoice in what it will bring to you…" Plural marriage spiritual manifestations—Benjamin_Johnson	Johnson to Gibbs, Apr.-Oct. 1903, 28–29.
250	Benjamin Johnson is said to have been "[i]mpressed by the prophet's inner calm but not fully convinced."	The author fails to tell us that Joseph promised Benjamin that he would know for himself. He is not impressed by Joseph's calm, but by Joseph's prophetic assurance of revelation directly to Benjamin: "But.how I asked. Can I teach my Sister when I mYself do not understand…'But you will See & underStand it' he Said and when you open your mouth to talk to your Sister light will come to you & your mouth will be full. & your toung lose." By not telling us this, The author hides the true reason for Johnson's decision to approach his sister, and the fact that his conversion (as recounted by the author) was a fulfillment of Joseph's prophetic promise. Plural marriage spiritual manifestations—Benjamin_Johnson	Johnson to Gibbs, Apr.-Oct. 1903, 28–29.
252	The author claims that Joseph "was able to wrap himself in the authority of the Bible…."	Joseph appealed to Biblical models, but always insisted that his authority was his own, from God, not derived from a Bible reading. Loaded and prejudicial language	No source provided.
252	The author speculates: "In a theological explication, perhaps partly inspired by convenience, Smith saw the church hierarchy as an extended family that would continue to live together in an afterlife community."	The author here suggests that Joseph's motivations were mercenary and pragmatic, rather than of sincere conviction. Smith ignores the literature on Joseph's deep-felt need and commitment to binding friendship in his personal life and theology.[2] Such a pervasive theme in his personal and scriptural writing argues against "convenience" as his motivation. Loaded and prejudicial language	Quinn, Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, 212; Extensions of Power, 163–97; Herbert R. Larsen, "Familism in Mormon Social Structure," Ph.D. diss., U of Utah, 1954. Joseph Smith: cynical motivations (edit)
253	Benjamin F. Johnson is claimed to be "representative of the mainstream in LDS practice" because he married seven wives… The publisher's response to this original claim generated a new claim: That Joseph "justified taking a monagamist's wife and giving it to a man who already had ten."	In fact, Johnson had more wives than even the average Nauvoo-era polygamist, and these were a small, highly selected group compared to polygamists in Utah. Incidence of polygamy Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)  The author or publisher responds: The publisher indicates that the reviewer of Nauvoo Polygamy neglected to explain that this comment was intended to illustrate Joseph Smith's interpretation of the New Testament parable of the talents, and that this was used as justification for taking a monagamist's wife and "giving it to a man who already had ten." The publisher indicated that the author "did not mean to imply" that a man had to have ten wives in order to "qualify for such a program."	No source provided. Statistical problems (edit)
259-260	Author's quote: "We do not know how long Joseph Smith had been contemplating polygamy, but the earliest conversations in which he explicitly addressed the topic were in late 1840 and early 1841."	Joseph reportedly specifically addressed the matter in the first half of the 1830s. Initiation of the practice	No source provided.
263 n. 54	The author quotes Ann Eliza Young regarding events that happened in 1842: "She wrote that some of the events she related depended upon the 'experience of those so closely connected with me that they have fallen directly under my observation.'"	Ann Eliza Young was born in 1844 in Nauvoo. It is thus impossible for her to have been a witness of events in 1842.	History unclear or in error Wife No. 19, 74.
274	John C. Bennett is claimed to have "publicized Young's clumsy attempt to entice [Martha] Brotherton" into plural marriage.	The author again tacitly assumes that Bennett's account is reliable and truthful. John C. Bennett	John C. Bennett (edit)
276	Brigham Young is claimed to have had an "overall materialistic theology."	Loaded and prejudicial language Compare with a more informed treatment, which displays a proper grasp of the nuances in both Latter-day Saint and non–Latter-day Saint applications of the term, in Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, 419–21. Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	No source provided.
277	Brigham Young is claimed to have ridiculed geologists who "tell us that this earth has been in existence for thousands and millions of years."	This is a major misreading of the text. It completely inverts Brigham's meaning. Brigham endorses the idea of an old earth, and criticizes Christian teachers who insist on a young earth. Brigham Young as Young Earth Creationist Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Citation error  History unclear or in error Journal of Discourses 12:271 [Smith provides the wrong citation: should be 14:115.]
281	Author's quote: "In part, Smith's organizational labyrinth helped keep the church together…."	Loaded and prejudicial language	No source provided.
281 and 281 n. 86	Brigham Young is claimed to have "worked out a scheme" in which church members were organized into companies of 'tens' and 'fifties'….[footnote] The author then notes that "[t]he first LDS divisions of this kind were in Missouri, where Samson Avard….told men it would soon be their privilege to "….take to yourselves spoils of the goods of the ungodly gentiles."	The author seems unwilling to let any anti-Mormon trope go unmentioned—we have to have the Danites! Avard has nothing to do with plural marriage, but Smith seems unwilling to let an opportunity to make the Saints look bad pass by. The comment from Avard, without adequate context and an understanding that his teachings were criticized, is prejudicial and misleading. Loaded and prejudicial language	Andrew Jenson, "Caldwell County, Missouri," Historical Record 8 [Jan 1889]: 701.
282	Author's quote: "a history of the Mormons in the West would be … a history of a mad prophet's visions turned by an American genius into the seed of life."	Loaded and prejudicial language	Bernard DeVoto, The Year of Decision: 1846 (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1942), 92-101, 469.
285	Author's quote: "When the opposition newspaper appeared and devoted space to polygamy, Smith and the ruling councils had it destroyed."	The author gives the false impression that this destruction was the act of the Church—it was not; it was done by the civil government, including non-Mormons. The "council" was the Nauvoo City council. Smith also presumes that the concern was only about polygamy. He fails to inform the reader about concerns regarding its libelous nature and consequent risk of mob violence. For example, Joseph was said to be a “blood thirsty and murderous…demon…in human shape” and “a syncophant [check spelling], whose attempt for power find no parallel in history… one of the blackest and basest scoundrels that has appeared upon the stage of human existence since the days of Nero, and Caligula.” He was also accused of causing the death of young women. The author acts instead as if the paper spoke only of polygamy. Nauvoo Expositor	No source provided. Nauvoo Expositor (edit)
289	Author's quote: "…since institutional histories have minimized the incidence and profile of polygamy (see chapter 1), it is easy to imagine that most men who entered polygamy did so in a cursory way." "In reality, the typical Utah polygamist whose roots in the principle extended back to Nauvoo had between three and four wives, with a higher incidence of large families."	Internal contradiction: vi: "...these same polygamists continued marrying to the point that they had acquired an average of nearly six wives per family. This model became the blueprint for forty years of Utah polygamy." Smith also fails to note that polygamists "whose roots…[went] back to Nauvoo," were a tiny minority. Two thirds of polygamous men in Utah had only two wives, >80% had no more than three. Probably 15-20% practiced polygamy at all. Incidence of polygamy Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	No source provided. Statistical problems (edit)
295	The author states that as Nauvoo was gradually depopulated, it became increasingly lawless.	The lawlessness of Nauvoo was in part due to the collapse of any police force when the Illinois legislature rescinded the Nauvoo charter. Primary sources/Thomas Kane on the decline of Nauvoo	No source provided.
297	It is noted that "Mormons brought about 100 black slaves with them to Deseret, representing two percent of the total population, from 1847 to 1850" and that "[s]lavery and polygamy formed a witch's brew that isolated Deseret from the rest of the U.S. through its territorial period to he 1890s."	Race issues and the Church	No source provided.
303	Author's quote: "No doubt, [Heber C. Kimball's] hesitation [in further plural marriages] had been similar to Young's, due to the weight of responsibilities involved in running church operations and because of the adverse publicity from Bennett's disclosures."	When the relevant documents are examined, it becomes apparent that Kimball was reluctant to practice plural marriage partly because he knew this was difficult for his first wife, Vilate.[3] (Smith mentions these documents subsequently on pp. 304-305, but prefaces them by telling the reader that Kimball's hesitation was all about pragmatic or public relations issues. Yet, the documents strongly suggest that personal and family issues occupied much of Heber's concern.)	No source provided.
309	The author speculates that there would have been six plural husbands in Nauvoo by 1842 if John Bennett "had not been expelled…."	The author again presumes (with no evidence, and against a great deal of evidence) that Bennett's adulteries were ever sanctioned. John C. Bennett	No source provided. John C. Bennett (edit)

Endnotes

1. [note]  Smith, Intimate Chronicle, xlix, 488–489, 490 n. 444.
2. [note]  Steven Epperson, ""The Grand, Fundamental Principle": Joseph Smith and the Virtue of Friendship," Journal of Mormon History 23/2 (Fall 1997): 81-101. See also DC 84꞉63,77-78, DC 88꞉3-4,62,113,117, DC 93꞉51, DC 94꞉1, DC 97꞉1, DC 100꞉1, DC 103꞉1, DC 104꞉1, DC 105꞉26, DC 109꞉6, DC 121꞉9-10, DC 125꞉25, JS-H 1꞉28.
3. [note]  See, for example, Augusta Joyce Crocheron (author and complier), Representative Women of Deseret, a book of biographical sketches to accompany the picture bearing the same title (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham & Co., 1884). See also Stanley B. Kimball, "Heber C. Kimball and Family, the Nauvoo Years," Brigham Young University Studies 15/4 (Summer 1975): 466; citing Heber C. Kimball to Vilate Kimball, 12 February 1849. Original letter formerly in the possession of President Spencer W. Kimball, and now in the Church Historical Department; and Vilate Kimball to Heber C. Kimball, 16 October 1842 as quoted in Helen Mar Whitney, "Scenes and Incidents," 11 (1 June 1882):1-2.

Further reading

Template code	Inserts this reference	Click to edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition}}	To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition	edit
{{To learn more box:''Under the Banner of Heaven''}}	To learn more about responses to: Under the Banner of Heaven	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Robert Price}}	To learn more about responses to: Robert Price	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ankerberg and Weldon}}	To learn more about responses to: Ankerberg and Weldon	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ashamed of Joseph}}	To learn more about responses to: Ashamed of Joseph	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Beckwith and Moser}}	To learn more about responses to: Beckwith and Moser	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Beckwith and Parrish}}	To learn more about responses to: Beckwith and Parrish	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Benjamin Park}}	To learn more about responses to: Benjamin Park	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith}}	To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon}}	To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: ''Big Love''}}	To learn more about responses to: Big Love	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Brett Metcalfe}}	To learn more about responses to: Brett Metcalfe	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bill Maher}}	To learn more about responses to: Bill Maher	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bruce H. Porter}}	To learn more about responses to: Bruce H. Porter	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Carol Wang Shutter}}	To learn more about responses to: Carol Wang Shutter	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: CES Letter}}	To learn more about responses to: CES Letter	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Charles Larson}}	To learn more about responses to: Charles Larson	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Christopher Nemelka}}	To learn more about responses to: Christopher Nemelka	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Colby Townshed}}	To learn more about responses to: Colby Townshed	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Contender Ministries}}	To learn more about responses to: Contender Ministries	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Crane and Crane}}	To learn more about responses to: Crane and Crane	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: D. Michael Quinn}}	To learn more about responses to: D. Michael Quinn	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Dan Vogel}}	To learn more about responses to: Dan Vogel	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: David John Buerger}}	To learn more about responses to: David John Buerger	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: David Persuitte}}	To learn more about responses to: David Persuitte	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Denver Snuffer}}	To learn more about responses to: Denver Snuffer	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Dick Bauer}}	To learn more about responses to: Dick Bauer	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Duwayne R Anderson}}	To learn more about responses to: Duwayne R Anderson	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Earl Wunderli}}	To learn more about responses to: Earl Wunderli	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ed Decker}}	To learn more about responses to: Ed Decker	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Erikson and Giesler}}	To learn more about responses to: Erikson and Giesler	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ernest Taves}}	To learn more about responses to: Ernest Taves	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Fawn Brodie}}	To learn more about responses to: Fawn Brodie	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: George D Smith}}	To learn more about responses to: George D Smith	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Grant Palmer}}	To learn more about responses to: Grant Palmer	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Hank Hanegraaff}}	To learn more about responses to: Hank Hanegraaff	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Hurlbut-Howe}}	To learn more about responses to: Hurlbut-Howe	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: James Brooke}}	To learn more about responses to: James Brooke	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: James Spencer}}	To learn more about responses to: James Spencer	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: James White}}	To learn more about responses to: James White	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner}}	To learn more about responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD}}	To learn more about responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: John Dehlin}}	To learn more about responses to: John Dehlin	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jonathan Neville}}	To learn more about responses to: Jonathan Neville	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Kurt Van Gorden}}	To learn more about responses to: Kurt Van Gorden	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Laura King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery}}	To learn more about responses to: Laura King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Loftes Tryk aka Lofte Payne}}	To learn more about responses to: Loftes Tryk aka Lofte Payne	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Luke WIlson}}	To learn more about responses to: Luke WIlson	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Marquardt and Walters}}	To learn more about responses to: Marquardt and Walters	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Martha Beck}}	To learn more about responses to: Martha Beck	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Mcgregor Ministries}}	To learn more about responses to: Mcgregor Ministries	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: McKeever and Johnson}}	To learn more about responses to: McKeever and Johnson	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: New Approaches}}	To learn more about responses to: New Approaches to the Book of Mormon	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Richard Abanes}}	To learn more about responses to: Richard Abanes	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Richard Van Wagoner}}	To learn more about responses to: Richard Van Wagoner	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Richard and Joan Ostling}}	To learn more about responses to: Richard and Joan Ostling	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Rick Grunger}}	To learn more about responses to: Rick Grunger	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Robert Ritner}}	To learn more about responses to: Robert Ritner	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Rod Meldrum}}	To learn more about responses to: Rod Meldrum	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Roger I Anderson}}	To learn more about responses to: Roger I Anderson	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ronald V. Huggins}}	To learn more about responses to: Ronald V. Huggins	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Sally Denton}}	To learn more about responses to: Sally Denton	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Simon Southerton}}	To learn more about responses to: Simon Southerton	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Thomas Murphy}}	To learn more about responses to: Thomas Murphy	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Todd Compton}}	To learn more about responses to: Todd Compton	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Vernal Holley}}	To learn more about responses to: Vernal Holley	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Walter Martin}}	To learn more about responses to: Walter Martin	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Wesley Walters}}	To learn more about responses to: Wesley Walters	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Will Bagley}}	To learn more about responses to: Will Bagley	edit