Divorce Of Polygamous Wives

[ALarson]

I've been reading and studying the lives of our past Prophets.  I had not realized that 5 of the early Prophets had been divorced (all of them following Joseph Smith, starting with Brigham Young and ending with Joseph F. Smith),  I don't know if any of Joseph's polygamous wives ever divorced him but if so, I have not ever read that this occurred.  I also am not aware of any Prophets that divorced after Joseph F. Smith.

 

All of these divorces involved polygamous wives except for Joseph F. Smith (his first and legal wife divorced him).

 

Any thoughts on this?  Were these divorces not considered to be in the same category as a divorce today?  If that's the case, was that because they were not legal marriages (other than Joseph F. Smith's)?

 

I'd love to hear any input on this.  Thanks!

[Calm]

Joseph Smith's would not have been seen as under legal jurisdiction so there would be no reason for seeking a divorce....cancelation of sealing perhaps. The only I am aware of that left was Fanny Alger who moved away, but I have no idea whether she considered herself no longer connected to him or not, I believe she did marry someone else though while he was still alive.

Otoh, even if the Feds debated the legality of plural marriages, I believe when in the Utah territory the people saw the marriages as civil as well as religious. I could be wrong though. They were however public knowledge and seen as valid marriages but frontier towns were always less concern about official divorce or marriage due to the lack of availability so I have no clue what divorce actually entailed beyond separation of husband and wife. I assume in plural marriages, church leaders being accessible would be seen by the community as having to grant permission.

BY as leader of the Church (not sure if he had the same deal going asgovernor of the territory as don't know what the legal differences were, if any) did make it very easy for a woman to get a divorce, much harder for a man to though. For awhile Utah became the place to go for divorce due to the legal ease.

Iirc, BY encouraged any woman who found a worthy man to leave a plural marriage for a monogamous one. He was definitely a practical man so I suspect he just saw it as creating a more financially and emotionally stable environment for all concerned given that the woman leaving would now have greater access to her husband's attention plus the previous husband would then have more time and resources to share among his remaining families....win win for everyone.

It seems to me given what I've read that while there was great love in many marriages, there was also an attitude that marriage was the best vehicle for caring for the needs of women as they were legally and morally guaranteed support while it would always be possible to withdraw charitable support from non family members. A woman dependent on the charity of others had no real recourse if that charity stopped save to go looking for another source. A married woman could bring her husband in front of church and legal authorities. Thus it was important for a woman to be married, less important who she was married to so I suspect that most LDS plural marriage divorces occurred for the purpose of being available to marry someone else, not because the marriage itself was unliveable. Don't have data on it though and not in the mood to search today. Hopefully someone else will have this info, if not perhaps tomorrow I will go looking.

I think this view of women needing support from others influenced the flexibility of marriage itself though I don't know how much stronger, if at all, this was seen as a purpose for marriage over romantic love.

Edited January 23, 2014 by calmoriah

[JLHPROF]

I've been reading and studying the lives of our past Prophets.  I had not realized that 5 of the early Prophets had been divorced (all of them following Joseph Smith, starting with Brigham Young and ending with Joseph F. Smith),  I don't know if any of Joseph's polygamous wives ever divorced him but if so, I have not ever read that this occurred.  I also am not aware of any Prophets that divorced after Joseph F. Smith.

 

All of these divorces involved polygamous wives except for Joseph F. Smith (his first and legal wife divorced him).

 

Any thoughts on this?  Were these divorces not considered to be in the same category as a divorce today?  If that's the case, was that because they were not legal marriages (other than Joseph F. Smith's)?

 

I'd love to hear any input on this.  Thanks!

 

Those divorces of polygamous wives were interesting occurrences.  As there was only one "legal" wife a "release" or cancellation of the sealing was all that was needed.  However occasionally, as with Ann Eliza Webb, the divorces or released wives still claimed things like alimony and child support.  Not sure they had a legal leg to stand on, but they claimed it.

[Calm]

  As there was only one "legal" wife a "release" or cancellation of the sealing was all that was needed.

Is this based on reasoning or research? If the latter, would be interested in a reference for further reading.

[JulieM]

Joseph F. Smith and his legal wife were divorced? Wasn't he married to his first cousin? I might be thinking of someone else, but I think that's what I remember. I did not know that he was divorced. Does anyone have more information on this?

[Calm]

Found this...don't know accuracy:

http://www.mormonmentality.org/2011/12/31/lessons-from-a-divorced-prophet.htm

Be sure and read the fifth comment as well.

Edited January 24, 2014 by calmoriah

[JLHPROF]

Is this based on reasoning or research? If the latter, would be interested in a reference for further reading.

 

None of these state outright that release/cancellation of sealing was all that was necessary, but there are numerous references to the fact that only the authority of the church leaders could grant divorce, which in my opinion can only refer to priesthood authority.  And the only reason for priesthood authority to be involved in a divorce is to cancel the sealing.  Civil marriages were not even recognized half the time.

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/explainer/2012/07/sister_wives_if_we_legalize_polygamous_marriage_how_will_polygamous_divorce_work_.html

&

http://en.fairmormon.org/Mormonism_and_polygamy/Divorce_in_the_19th_century

&

http://en.fairmormon.org/Mormonism_and_polygamy/Remarrying_without_civil_divorce

[ALarson]

calmoriah and JLHPROF, thank you for the links.  I'll spend some time reading them.

 

I did find that Joseph F. Smith's first (and legal) wife,Levira Smith, left him and divorced him after he started living polygamy.  What is puzzling somewhat is most recorded that she got along well with his first plural wife. But in the end, she just couldn't accept it:

 

In 1868 Levira obtained a divorce in California, charging that her husband had “been guilty of the crime of Adultery with several different women.” Joseph F. Smith was the last divorced president of the Church.

 

 

This is from Wiki which also answered my question wondering if he'd married his first cousin (he was Hyrum's son and his wife was Saumel's daughter)::

 

On 5 April 1859, Smith married his sixteen-year-old cousin Levira Annette Clark Smith (29 April 1842 Nauvoo, Illinois – 18 December 1888 St. Louis, Missouri), daughter of Samuel Harrison Smith. When Joseph F. Smith left on his mission to England the next year, his companion for the journey over and part of his time in Sheffield was Levira's brother, Samuel. Joseph and Levira had no children. Seven years later, Brigham Young directed Smith to take a plural wife. Levira gave her permission and was present at the marriage of Joseph F. and Julina Lambson, who was a longtime friend of hers and was the daughter of Alfred Boaz Lambson and Melissa Jane Bigler. Levira became disenchanted with the plural marriage arrangement and divorced Smith in 1868 and moved to California.

 

Edited January 26, 2014 by ALarson

[Calm]

It might not have been so much plural marriage as being treated as a hypochondriac when there was something really wrong with her (my family...not my married one, my father and siblings did me until the same genetic disorder started hitting them, it is a very painful experience, if my husband had ever been inclined to treat me the same way, I might have left him). JFS was ashamed after he realized she really had been ill when she died. Of course, the plural marriage would have added to the sense of not being valued, not feeling wanted.

[ALarson]

It might not have been so much plural marriage as being treated as a hypochondriac when there was something really wrong with her (my family...not my married one, my father and siblings did me until the same genetic disorder started hitting them, it is a very painful experience, if my husband had ever been inclined to treat me the same way, I might have left him). JFS was ashamed after he realized she really had been ill when she died. Of course, the plural marriage would have added to the sense of not being valued, not feeling wanted.

I agree.  Levira Smith's story is an interesting one to read and her poor health definitely contributed to their marriage failing.  IIRC, they were never able to have children and that must have also been very hard on both of them (JFS and Levira).  Thanks for the input!