Did The Church Break Up Families Post-Manifesto?

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

Does anyone know of some good resources or research regarding what happened to polygamous families post-Manifesto?

I'm curious about what happened to the thousands of polygamous families? Were they sent packing? Did the majority of polygamous marriages continue underground against the law?

My polygamous ancestor's wife and children were basically kicked out and sent packing to California after the Manifesto.

[_Maksutov]

Both sides of my family were ravaged by polygamy. I was descended from sister wives who got the leftover crumbs and spent decades in poverty. The children were seen as bastards. I wouldn't be here but for polygamy but it was a terrible thing for them to live through.

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

Both sides of my family were ravaged by polygamy. I was descended from sister wives who got the leftover crumbs and spent decades in poverty. The children were seen as bastards. I wouldn't be here but for polygamy but it was a terrible thing for them to live through.

Thanks Maksutov.

I don't think I've ever heard about what happened to the thousands of families post-Manifesto. I wish I could find a resource to learn more. From what little information I can piece together, most of these families were split up.

The whole polygamy debacle was a real tragedy.

[_Fiannan]

Both sides of my family were ravaged by polygamy. I was descended from sister wives who got the leftover crumbs and spent decades in poverty. The children were seen as bastards. I wouldn't be here but for polygamy but it was a terrible thing for them to live through.

Thanks Maksutov.

I don't think I've ever heard about what happened to the thousands of families post-Manifesto. I wish I could find a resource to learn more. From what little information I can piece together, most of these families were split up.

The whole polygamy debacle was a real tragedy.

Yet who was the real villain, the LDS faith or the US government?

[_moksha]

Yet who was the real villain, the LDS faith or the US government?

The manner by which former polygamy families were cared for or abandoned, after ending polygamy, should have been a concern for the Church.

[_Brackite]

Yet who was the real villain, the LDS faith or the US government?

in my opinion, Both were to blame.

[_fetchface]

Yet who was the real villain, the LDS faith or the US government?

In the game of bigoted asshole vs dangerous weirdo, nobody wins.

[Guest]

Does anyone know of some good resources or research regarding what happened to polygamous families post-Manifesto?

I'm curious about what happened to the thousands of polygamous families? Were they sent packing? Did the majority of polygamous marriages continue underground against the law?

My polygamous ancestor's wife and children were basically kicked out and sent packing to California after the Manifesto.

The Reed Smoot investigation transcripts revealed the answer to this question.

The agreement with the government was to cease cohabitation with plural wives. That said nothing about continued financial support or living together without cohabitation. I wouldn't say that church did this; the government forced it upon the church. In response to the agreement, the government returned confiscated assets, released men from the penitentiary and restored the right to vote to Mormons. Church divorces were granted freely and there was an expectation although not enforced of continued support. The government did not recognize plural marriages so there was no civil divorce.

Pres. Woodruff complied, but he was a very old man.

Pres. Joseph F. Smith, who was in his 60s, testified before the Senate that he wasn't complying with the cessation of cohabitation. His response, when asked, was something along the lines of "I fear my wives more than I fear God." It is uncertain from the transcript whether Pres. Smith contracted additional plural marriages after the manifesto. There was reference in the transcript to a marriage out near Catalina Island, but he neither admitted nor denied, or else his denial wasn't clear.

My interpretation: You wouldn't get in trouble with the church if you continued to cohabit with your wives and produce children. The government wouldn't care about you except there was a view that the Church wasn't complying with the agreement with men out cohabiting. There was some period of time in which the Church looked the other way at new marriages, but that came to an end after a few years. My great grandfather was excommunicated in or around 1908 for three new marriages solemnized by either a Juarez stake president or an apostle. There was a strongly-held view the manifesto did not apply to Mexico, where plural marriages were also illegal. That view came to an end around 1908.

[_Yahoo Bot]

Dupe

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

Thanks Yahoo Bot!