MORE WIVES THAN ONE KATHRYN M. DAYNES More Wives Than One TRANSFORMATION OF THE MORMON MARRIAGE SYSTEM, 184O -I9IO UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS URBANA AND CHICAGO © 2001 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America c 5 4 3 2 i ©This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Daynes, Kathryn M. More wives than one: transformation of the Mormon marriage system, 1840-1910 / Kathryn M. Daynes. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-252-02681-0 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Polygamy—United States—History. 2. Marriage— Religious aspects—Mormon Church—History of doctrines. 3. Church of fesus Christ of Latter-day Saints— History. I. Title. BX8641.D39 2001 3o6.84'23'o88283—dc2i 2001000826 For Bill, who has made thirty-four years of monogamy so ideal that it has made much more difficult the task of understanding why my great-grandmother and great-great grandmother entered plural marriage Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction i PART i: GENESIS TO REVELATION! INTRODUCTION OF PLURAL MARRIAGE TO THE MANIFESTO 1. Kirtland and Nauvoo: Beginnings of Plural Marriage 17 2. Plural Marriage under Mormon Control 36 PART 2! I LEVITICUS! LEGAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR MARRIAGE 3. Nineteenth-Century Marriage Law in Utah 55 4. The Nature of Mormon Marriages 67 PART 3: NUMBERS! AN ANALYSIS OF THE MARRIAGE PATTERNS OF MANTI WOMEN 5. The Marriage Market 91 6. Women Who Became Plural Wives 116 7. Economics and Plural Marriage 128 PART 4: II LEVITICUS! LEGAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR DIVORCE 8. Civil and Ecclesiastical Divorce 141 9. Incidence of Divorce and Remarriage 160 PART 5: ACTS AND JUDGES: THE MORMON MARRIAGE SYSTEM AND ITS DEMISE 10. The Decline of Plural Marriage 173 11. The Nineteenth-Century Mormon Marriage System 188 Appendix: Description of Demographic Data 213 Notes 223 Selected Bibliography 283 Index 297 Illustrations follow page 52 Acknowledgments Along the way to completion of this study, I have incurred many debts. Jeri Woodward first awakened my interest in Mormon his­ tory, and she, Clair Woodward, and Martha Taysom have all helped by listening to and commenting on various ideas. Sheila Cooper provided advice and encouragement that made the project easier. The archivists, librarians, and staffs of Special Collections at the Harold B. Lee Library of Brigham Young University, the LDS Church Archives, the Manti City Library, and the Family History Library were all helpful and accommodating. The Sanpete County Clerk's Office gave me access to its Basement Archives. John Lunceford of the Terre Haute Family History Center also provided important assistance by generous­ ly sharing his extensive knowledge about tracing families and the types of sources available for LDS families. Without that knowledge, the Manti data set would have been much less complete. For help on legal matters, I turned to Christopher A. Newton, who read portions of preliminary drafts and offered advice, and to George Ryskamp. Thomas G. Alexander read an early draft and shared his exten­ sive knowledge of both Mormon and Utah history. Clayne Pope gave me the names of Manti heads of households from his computerized list of the 1850, i860, and 1870 Utah censuses, which aided me considerably in the early phases of my research. This book began as a dissertation, and a Graduate School Research Grant from Indiana University facilitated this project, allowing me to obtain microfilms and other sources of data needed to reconstruct the families of Manti. My debt is especially large to those who served on my X Acknowledgments dissertation committee and read the early drafts. David Thelen and Ellen Dwyer offered helpful suggestions. M. Jeanne Peterson not only made my prose clearer but also, by making me think more deeply about various issues, made the final draft a tighter, more complete work. But my debt to her is much greater than this. The knowledge and skills I learned from her through classes as well as from her comments on term and seminar papers have informed the way I study history. Beyond that, her profes­ sional help and personal encouragement opened the way for me to com­ plete my graduate studies. George Alter's aid, from sharing his knowl­ edge of family history to helping me with the demographic methods used in this study, was vital. Jan Shipps offered invaluable advice from the conception of this project to its conclusion. She helped refine ideas at their inception as well as encouraged and advised me as the manuscript was considerably revised and reorganized for publication. Her support as a teacher, adviser, and friend has been indispensable. Mark Grandstaff and Richard Bushman read and commented on por­ tions of the manuscript, and Mary Richards helped tighten my argument. Dean May and Walter Nugent carefully read the manuscript and made helpful suggestions. I also benefited from Joe Olsen's help preparing the graphs and from the research assistance given by Megan McRae, Warren Daynes, and Marie Burt, the last of whom also helped initially edit the manuscript and index the book. Liz Dulany of the University of Illinois Press has been particularly helpful in moving this work from manuscript to published book, and Jane Mohraz improved it by her careful editing and perceptive suggestions. I alone, however, am responsible for the book's content and interpretation. My children, Austen, Marie, and Warren, were patient and encour­ aging through the long gestation of this project. It, however, never would have been begun, much less completed, without the untiring assistance and support of Bill Daynes. To him my debt of gratitude is especially great.