Mormon leaders have acknowledged for the first time that the church’s founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, portrayed in church materials as a loyal partner to his loving spouse Emma, took as many as 40 wives, some already married and one only 14 years old.
Did Joseph Smith marry other people’s wives?
Mormon founder Joseph Smith took his first “plural wife,” Fanny Alger, in the mid-1830s. He later married many additional women — including young teens and some who already were wed to other men — and introduced the practice of polygamy to select members in the 1840s.
How many wives did Joseph Smith have at death?
40 wives
In an essay posted without fanfare to its website in late October, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said for the first time that Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church, had as many as 40 wives.
What does the Bible say about marrying two wives?
John Gill comments on 1 Corinthians 7 and states that polygamy is unlawful; and that one man is to have but one wife, and to keep to her; and that one woman is to have but one husband, and to keep to him and the wife only has a power over the husband’s body, a right to it, and may claim the use of it: this power over …
Is polygamy illegal in Utah?
For the first time in 85 years, polygamy is no longer a felony in Utah. A state law, passed back in March, went into effect Tuesday dropping polygamy from a third-degree felony to an infraction, basically the same legal level as a traffic ticket.
How old was Joseph’s youngest wife?
Helen was sealed to Smith in May 1843 when she was 14 and he was 37. The marriage was kept secret, and Helen continued to live with her parents (Anderson & Faulring 1998).
When did polygamy end?
The LDS Church publicly renounced the practice of polygamy in 1890, but it has never renounced polygamy as doctrine, as evidenced in LDS scriptures. It has always permitted and continues to permit men to be married in Mormon temples “for the eternities” to more than one wife.
