Comments on: BCC Research Collaborative 4: Female Power in Polygamy

By: Heather P.

Heather P. — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 22:49:33 +0000

Kristine beat me to it.

By: Heather P.

Heather P. — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 22:46:45 +0000

J. and Jed mentioned Wells. Here are a couple of her relevant writings from Woman's Exponent: "Why, Ah! Why" (October 1, 1874), 3(9), 67. "A Mormon Woman's View of Marriage" (September 1, 1877), 6(7), 54. Other possibilites: Mulvay, Jill C. (Winter 1976). "Eliza R. Snow and the Woman Question," BYU Studies 16(2), 250-264. electronic copy (pp. 260-262 specifically) Madsen, Carol Cornwall (Spring 1982). "Emmeline B. Wells: 'Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?,'" BYU Studies 22(2), 161-178. electronic copy (pp. 175-177 specifically) Daynes, Kathryn M. More Wives Than One: Transformation of the Mormon Marriage System, 1840-1910. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. BYU Studies review (The "heart of the book" is "Dayne's examination of how and why women entered into plural marriage," which was "in response to religious doctrine, which told them that their exaltation in the celestial worlds depended upon their adherence to the Principle.")

By: Kristine

Kristine — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 22:35:39 +0000

I was going to say EBW, too. _Battle for the Ballot_ is probably also good for the intersection of polygamy and power of various sorts. But that’s later than what you’re looking for, right, Sam?

You could look at ERSS for the idea that polygamy redeems women from Eve’s fallen status, which might be an interesting counter to the patriarchal relationship–I’d look in her poetry, actually, if only because it will liven up your prose :)

By: Jed

Jed — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 22:29:44 +0000

Jessie Embry, Mormon Polygamous Families: Life in the Principle, and accompanying notes, is the place to go. Embry uses notes interviews that the Mormon sociologist Kimball Young collected from one-time plural wives in the 1920s. There is a wistful nostalgia in some of the comments, but the interviews do cover ground nothing else does.

The great 19th-c public defender of the practice, of course, is Emmeline B. Wells. For arguments, see Carol Cornwall Madsen’s recent biography.

By: jab

jab — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 21:03:16 +0000

The special collections section of the HBLL (at byu) has tons of primary resources by mormon women, including autobiographies, diaries etc talking about Mormon women. I’ll see if I can dig up some of my college papers to find some specific references. I remember at least one account talking about how the first wife had the only keys to the pantry and gave all the best (and most) food to her own children.

My great-great-grandmother’s autobiography is there. I have portions of it, including a quote saying, “I went in to Plural marriage hesitatingly, reluctantly, but we were constantly taught that plural marriage was the only way to reach the highest degree in Heaven, and I looked upon our earthly pilgramidge [sic] as the great school, colledge [sic], University of life, I knew it would require great courage, adn constant self sacrifice, …” She was married in the later years of plural marriage, though, (suffered through the after-effects of the Manifesto), so it’s not precisely what you’re looking for.

By: Mark IV

Mark IV — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:29:56 +0000

J., yes that is better and more accurate. It actually makes me cringe to realize that some of our gggg grandmothers may have found themselves occupying the less favored end of the spectrum.

By: J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:09:33 +0000

Mark, I would amend that perhaps, to say “favored wife,” not first.

By: Mark IV

Mark IV — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:04:33 +0000

Sam, let’s keep in mind that there was a often hierarchy in the polygamous family among the women themselves. I remember attending family reunions where people made a point of saying that they descended from the first wife. For people of my grandparents generation, to admit that you come through a forth or fifth wife was a step in the direction of being the misbegotten offspring of bastardy. I think there really was something of a pecking order among the women in polygamy. Sorry, I have no primary sources, just boyhood memories of large family reunions.

By: Lurkin' Grandma

Lurkin' Grandma — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 19:58:00 +0000

“A Woman’s View: Helen Mar Whitney’s Reminiscences of Early Church History” Edited by Jeni Broberg Holzapfel and Richard Neitzel Holzapfel is filled with Helen’s “perspectives and experiences”, polygamy being one of the major themes.

By: smb

smb — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 19:18:26 +0000

Justin: thanks for the great links (you should submit something so BCCRC can help you in return). The 1870 meeting is fascinating. The heavenly familial hierarchy of Mormonism gives new valence to the claim made (so similar to the Victorian statement, but so much vaster in semantic content) that “children…represent our true glory,” recalling that glory was a code for position in the celestial hierarchy, and children added to a man’s glory as well.
You know, it occurs to me that within this familial hierarchy, a woman was in a position of superiority to her son, who himself could multiply glory polygamously.
I’m not aware of anyone specifically invoking this idea, but in general terms this would impute great power to a matriarch, particularly when, as I argue in various places with I believe reasonable evidentiary support, the hierarchy of heaven is a sacerdotal kindred. Still not maybe the way we personally might design the system today, but it does represent greater access to power than I had previously thought.