Under
the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, 2003, Excerpts
He kept falling
rapturously in love with women not his wife. And because that rapture was so
wholly consuming, and felt so good, it struck him as impossible that God might
possibly frown on such a thing. Joseph continued to take plural wives
throughout the 1830s in Ohio and Missouri, and he married with even greater
frequency in Nauvoo in the early 1840s, but he did whatever was necessary,
including bald-faced lying, to conceal his polygamous behavior – not only from
censorious non-Mormons but from all but a select few of his own followers, as
well. Between 1840 and 1844 God instructed the prophet to marry some forty
women. Most were shocked and revolted when Joseph revealed that the Lord had in
mind for them. Several were still pubescent girls, such as fourteen-year-old
Helen Mar Kimball.
Nauvoo was closely
woven, self-absorbed community that generated a robust flow of gossip. Try as
he might, it was impossible for Joseph to conceal so much illicit activity from
his followers. Time and again public allegations would be made against the
prophet, but he was extremely adept at portraying his accusers as instruments
of Satan out to defame not only him, a persecuted innocent, but all of
Mormondom. Joseph repeatedly managed to sweep unsavory charges under the rug before
irreparable damage could be inflicted – a talent he shared, of course, with
many successful religious and political leaders through the ages.
So Joseph kept the
fact of his multiple wives a secret and bided his time until the proper moment
for revealing the sacred principle had arrived. And then, on July 12, 1843, he
formally codified the divine commandment revealing the sacred importance of
plural marriage. Unlike the other revelations of this period, it was kept
secret and wasn’t acknowledged until 1852, a full eight years after the
prophet’s death.
Turn of the century photograph of the entire family of
Joseph F. Smith. This picture depicts members of his
family, including his sons and daughters, as well as their spouses and
children.
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