Defending Joseph Smith's Handshake Marriages

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_grindael
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Re: Defending Joseph Smith's Handshake Marriages

Post by _grindael »

In my estimation, Stem, they were all "handshake marriages". What did Joseph have to do with those women after his initial interest in them? Nothing, really. Where they bona-fide marriages? Not in any sense of the word. In every case where it got tough for Joseph it was "See ya later". Eliza Snow, The Partridges, Sarah Ann Whitney, Fanny Alger, ALL of the polyandrous relationships, Desdemona Fullmer, Lucy Walker: (who I don't profile in the "Handshake" article):

On May 1, 1843 Emma was in St. Louis buying supplies for the Nauvoo House when Joseph had Lucy Walker sealed to himself. Lucy later testified that “Emma Smith was not present and she did not consent to the marriage; she did not know anything about it at all.” Emma returned from St. Louis the next day. The brother of Lucy Walker (Lorin) had accompanied her there.
Nearly twenty years after signing an affidavit about her sealing to Joseph, Lucy Walker wrote that Emma approved of and consented to four of Joseph’s polygamous marriages:
Emma Smith, the Prophet’s first wife, gave her consent to the marriage of at least four other girls to her husband, and that she was well aware that he associated with them as wives within the meaning of all that word implies. This is proven by the fact that she herself, on several occasions, kept guard at the door to prevent disinterested persons from intruding, when these ladies were in the house.
Yet, Emma knew nothing about Lucy Walker’s own marriage to Joseph. In a much more detailed account written with the help of Lyman O. Littlefield, Lucy Walker would claim in 1888:
The first day of May, 1843, I consented to become the Prophet's wife, and was sealed to him for time and all eternity, at his own house by Elder William Clayton.
… I can also state that Emma Smith was present and did consent to Eliza and Emily Partridge, also Maria and Sarah Lawrence being sealed to her husband. This I had from the Prophet's own mouth; also the testimony of her niece, Hyrum Smith's eldest daughter, (my brother Lorin's wife), as well as that of the young ladies named themselves, with whom I was on most intimate terms, and was glad that they, too, had accepted that order of marriage. Instead of a feeling of jealousy, it was a source of comfort to me. We were as sisters to each other.
In this I acted in accordance with the will of God, not for any worldly aggrandizement, not for the gratification of the flesh. How can it be said we accepted this principle for any lustful desires? Preposterous! This would be utterly impossible. But, as I said before, we accepted it to obey a command of God, to establish a principle that would benefit the human family and emancipate them from the degradation into which they, through their wicked customs, had fallen.
In all this, God had in view a road marked out for me that I knew not, to struggle against the tide of opposition, prejudice and tradition, to aid in establishing a principle that would exalt mankind and bring them back into His presence. A tie has been formed that will guide me to the highest and most glorious destiny, if I continue to walk in the regeneration, which is the grand object of my life.
Lucy Walker had it “from the prophet’s own mouth” that Emma participated in four of Joseph’s polygamous marriages, but made no affidavit in 1869. She then added,
No one can possibly feel more deeply to regret than I do, the course taken by the sons of President Joseph Smith, knowing that they have been misinformed; that it is through prejudice, through yielding to popular opinion that they have been misled. They might heir their father's priesthood, if they would take proper steps … O, that …they might turn to God and become his apostles in very deed. That they might also accept the many testimonies given by those whose lives have been pure and spotless, who have sought to aid in establishing eternal principles that will exalt the human race in the presence of God. How gladly we would have them in our midst, did they walk in the spirit of their father.
They seem surprised that there was no issue from asserted plural marriages with their father. Could they but realize the hazardous life he lived, after that revelation was given, they would comprehend the reason. He was harassed and hounded and lived in constant fear of being betrayed by those who ought to have been true to him. (My research)


In 1888 Lucy Walker wrote,

He [Joseph Smith] often referred to the feelings that should exist between husband and wives, that they, his wives, should be his bosom companions, the nearest and dearest objects on earth in every sense of the word.


Yet, ten years later she said this,

Men did not take polygamous wives because they loved them or fancied them or because they were voluptuous, but because it was a command of God.


Let's just take a few examples from Hales' website,

The details of the relationship between Marinda and the Prophet will probably never be known. If Marinda had chosen Joseph as her eternal husband, she apparently changed her mind because she chose to be sealed to her legal husband Orson Hyde in the Nauvoo temple on January 11, 1846.


his wives, should be his bosom companions, the nearest and dearest objects on earth in every sense of the word

Sarah Ann’s [Whitney] relationship with Joseph Smith was extraordinary in another way. Apparently sometime in the first half of 1843, suspicions arose concerning their plural marriage. In order to neutralize any concerns that might have existed among members, non-members, or perhaps law enforcement officers regarding their relationship, the Prophet requested that Joseph C. Kingsbury marry her civilly.


his wives, should be his bosom companions, the nearest and dearest objects on earth in every sense of the word

I could go on and on with these kinds of examples. And if you go through Hales' website, you find things like this,

Elizabeth [Davis Durfee] may have been a member of the polygamy inner circle in Nauvoo. However, after Emily Partridge married the Prophet, she related a conversation demonstrating Durfee’s ignorance of restored plural marriage: “Mrs. Durfee invited my sister Eliza and I to her house to spend the afternoon. She introduced the subject of spiritual wives as they called them in that day. She wondered if there was any truth in this report she heard. I thought I could tell her something that would make her open her eyes if I chose, but I did not choose to. I kept my own counsel and said nothing.”
3

If Elizabeth Davis was, in fact, a plural marriage insider, it is strange she would have voiced her ignorance on the occasion described. Perhaps she was just testing Emily’s knowledge or using the comment to open a discussion on the topic with which she was well informed.


The reason I bring this up is that Hales is being deceptive here. How? By trying to make it seem that this discussion between Emily Partridge and Elizabeth Durfee could be interpreted as something other than Durfee knowing all about Joseph's Spiritual Wifeism. She did and Emily ADMITS IT right in that account, which Hales doesn't quote:

I learned afterward that Mrs. D was a friend to plurality and knew all about it, and took that means to test me and draw me out, if I was disposed.


Why does Hales deceptively say she was "perhaps testing her knowledge" when he knows VERY WELL that it exactly what Durfee was doing. Emily says so in the very account that Hales quotes!

This is how you defend Joseph's Spiritual Wifeism. By being disingenuous and deceptive. Hales does this a lot. He selectively quotes things. He quotes just enough to make a point, then asks all kinds of questions and presents all kinds of scenarios when he knows what the documents actually say. According to Emily, Durfee WAS "a plural marriage insider". Hales KNOWS this, yet keeps repeating that she MAY have been. Why? Because Durfee later joined the ReOrganized Church. Hales writes,

Elizabeth lived out the remainder of her life with her son. Ironically, in the late 1860s they were baptized into the RLDS Church, despite its official position that Joseph Smith did not practice plural marriage.
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_DoubtingThomas
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Re: Defending Joseph Smith's Handshake Marriages

Post by _DoubtingThomas »

grindael wrote:DoubtingThomas, if you could create another thread, please.


Yes. Will do it probably next week.
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