Gordon B. Hinckley stated that polygamy was practiced on a limited scale. Speaking to Larry King (sept. 1998):

"The figures I have are from - between two percent and 5 percent of our people were involved in it."

Now, we all know that this in incorrect, and that the church is now being forced to be more honest about how widespread the practice was..... In this same Larry King interview, GBH stated that polygamy, now, is "not doctrinal," but that is a separate topic for another day.

That being said, are you the descendant of polygamists? I'm guessing there are more than 2-5% of us that are.

I'll start: my grandma grew up in a polygamous home as my G Grandather had 6 wives. My GG Grandfather had 7 wives. Yes, I have polygamous blood running through my veins (gag).

I love shocking people with a casual mention that my dad's grandfather had 4 wives (though only 2 he was actively involved with at the same time). Interestingly, I have heard of no polygamy on my mom's much more TBM side of the family, which always looked down on my dad's family. Perhaps a lot of people saw polygamists as evil opportunists than holy and humble, even back in the day. Clearly the early Utah Mormon leaders were occasionally unscrupulous men...

On DH's charts, 12 of the eligible 15 families in Utah during those years were polygamous. They were prosperous businessmen mostly and married into familiar Mormon family names.

On my charts, there are only a couple of families. I come from poor imigrant farmers.

On both charts, every line was fully TBM by about 1860.

I'm a decendant of a guy with two sisters as wives. Their names were Josephina and Brighamina.

My mom told me that they fought like two sister wives.

Sisters named Josephina and Brighamina.... Classic!

No offense intended for any female currently named "Brighamina," but what a horrible name for a woman.

Six polygamist men in my family tree. I'm descended from a third wife of a man who was the son of a second wife.

I'm related via polygamy to at least two other RFMers I've never met.

Both sides.

married my g-grandmother and her sister. He had an older wife, too. That was my mother's grandfather. Her mother was a convert. When my grandfather went back looking for my grandmother to marry her years after they moved away, her father made him promise that he was not from a polygamist background. He lied and took her from Colorado to Utah to marry her. She eventually converted.

When talking about this with my parents, my dad stated to me that his family wasn't that stupid.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2014 11:00AM by cl2.

It only skipped my grandparents who raved about it but didn't attempt to live it.

My brother married into it and had at least one plyg wife for years. He has since been re-baptized in the mainstream mormon church. Still, many of his kids and grand-children practice mormon plural marriage.

No, for those who will ask, they are not FLDS. That is only one of literally 100s of polygamous cults in Zion. It was in the news and naïve readers and TV watchers assume it's the only group since it's the one they've heard about.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2014 11:06AM by Cheryl.

Yes, polygamy on both sides.

Polygamy on both sides:

Mom's side - Her paternal grandfather grew up in a polygamous home. He was the youngest of 18 (acknowledged) children and the offspring of the youngest of three sister wives, so he basically got the dregs of everything and had to raise himself. Some younger, unacknowledged children came forward later and were rebuffed by the family. Polygamy was practiced by three generations of that family.

Dad's side - My ggg-grandfather was ordered to take a second wife. According to family legend, he initially refused but his first wife persuaded him to obey the prophet (Brigham). He didn't have any children by the second wife. His children are on record as abhorring polygamy and they all refused to practice it--some left the church over it.

My great-great grandfather had 3 wives.

John Taylor is my great-great-great grandpa on my mother's side.
I've never really looked into which wife or anything, because just thinking of what he did gives me that sick feeling...

Foggy,

Which John Taylor line do you come from (if this is ok to ask)?

I'm descended from several polygamists here, but if you go straight up the male line to my great-great-great-great-grandfather with my same last name, he had 43 wives and 65 children. He was once overheard saying "I think no more of taking another wife than I do of buying a cow."

For what it's worth, since most of us are descended from not one but many Utah pioneers, there is most likely a larger percentage of us who are descended from at least one polygamist than there were actual polygamists. Just saying. If I were to guess, though, I'd say about half the Mormons is Brigham Young's time had participated in a polygamous relationship at one point or another during their life. At any given moment, I'd say about 20-30 percent of the population were living in polygamy.

I like that better than "Brother," personally...

Per Will Bagley: "We're all cousins."

Maybe we could make that one an RFM "greeting."

Both sides. Grandmother was daughter of father who had polygamous wives. She told me that she enjoyed her polygamous family life, though her family portrait I have bares nary a single smile. Stern, but frowningly sad.

About 80% of my Mormon ancestors were polygamist. The rest weren't following the prophet.

There are lots of polygamists on my wife's side. My TBM FIL is VERY into family history...super proud of his family ties to early mormon history. He's been the only person that has tried looking into some of the problems I've brought up...I don't think he can bring himself to look too deeply. He doesn't want to admit that his ancestral heroes were fools.

Multiple ancestral lines on my father's side descend from polygamists. Actually, there is only one branch of the tree at the great-grandparent level that is NOT polyg.

nothing. nada. am third generation so no chance.

I once referred to polygamy as "a practice that we find repugnant" in a SM talk

boy, was I educated afterwords!!

apparently, not all members of the ward shared in my perspective...

some even viewed their plyg lineage as a significant source of pride.

I was raised away from the moridor, and had NO idea that being related to plygs and/or people who crossed the plains was such a big deal to some people

I come from polygamy through my mother's mother's side. I don't know about my mother's father's side. My father was a convert, so no polygamy there.

Geez - there are so many polygamists in my fam, that I would have to count the ones that aren't. For instance, my great-grandmother's side of the family although her mother was married and divorced from a polygamist. On my mother's side, her great-great-grandfather married once, but his wife (he married twice) was married several times to other men. That's it. My grandfather's grandfather married three sisters.

You've pointed out how there were many failed polygamous relationships. In the present day groups most marriages fail and most polygamist women go from one family situation to the next faster than a revolving door in a snow storm.

Yep, active polygamists just 3 generations back on both sides of the family.

I guess that missing third wife meant something, but after G-g-grandpa's first wife died, the old boy never dared remarry.

And of course I'm a shirttail relative to the Kimballs (Heber C. had 43 wives); there was an adoption in there, but hey, it included Temple sealings so...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2014 02:57PM by SL Cabbie.

My GGGF had seven wives and fifty plus children. He also took a post-manifesto wife and was issued a subpoena to appear in front of congress during the Smoot hearings.

My mom still leaves the eighth wife off the family tree..

No polygamy on my mother's side that I could find though it was reported by one of my uncle's that a great grandfather practiced it.

My family says that we are decended from polygamy from my great grandfather, a guy who had four wives. There is even a family picture of him with his four wives. It is absolutely wrong. Great grandfather had many kids with wife #1 and then she died. He then married the kids' nanny who is my great grandmother. He then married two more women, the last one in 1891 in Mexico, 18 months after the Manifesto.

And how in the world did we get a picture of him and his four wives when one was dead before he even met wives #3 and #4?

Two GGGFs on my father's mother's side each had seven wives.

I plug into Patty Sessions, her daughter Sylvia (both who were married to Joseph Smith AND another man at the same time) Toss in Perriguine Sessions with his 9 wives and 60 kids.

So if you are from Bountiful and its surroundings we are probably related.

Great-grandson of a high-level polygamous. I don't think he had a relationship with his wife or my grandfather though. He did have a very serious relationship with the LDS church.

GGGF had 8 wives.
His mother became a wife of Lorenzo Snow after the family split up after Nauvoo. Her first husband and about half their children stayed in Illinois.

Sorry guys this Aussie didn't have any polygamous relatives and I was the one who brought my family into tscc (sorry all!). All have since left including my children. BUT I can correctly assume that my ancestors, while not polygamous, were also not always faithful to their spouses, does that count??? Heh heh!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2014 04:55PM by fluhist.