Posted by:
ExMoBandB
(
)
Date: October 17, 2014 04:23AM
I like to call these people "apostates," because they apostatized from the church of their ancestors, in their homeland in Europe.
On my mother's side, my ancestor was one of Joseph Smith's counselors. He was also a polygamist. He married two sisters, but the younger sister (my ancestor) had to wait until she was of legal age, so she stayed in a Mormon household, where she was trained into society--manners, table etiquette, comportment, posture, sewing, cooking, etc. In the meantime, the older sister, the first wife had several children. My ancestor married her, and took both wives across the plains. Both were pregnant, and both gave birth on the journey. The older sister died in childbirth, so my ancestor took care of all of her sister's children, as well as nursed the two newborns. These two (or is it one) families produced several General Authorities and two church presidents.
None of the ancestors on my father's side were polygamists, but they didn't hold high church positions, either. They were close neighbors of Joseph Smith, and he hooked them into his cult. My female ancestor's father disapproved of her marrying a Mormon, who was a close friend to the crook, Joseph Smith, but he gave her a dowry, anyway, of a covered wagon and four oxen, for the journey to Utah. Her husband sold their house. Unfortunately her husband died before they left, so Joseph Smith and the cult took her wagon and oxen, and gave them to another family. She was told, "A woman alone can't make the journey--you need a man--so you must give up your worldly goods to the church, so others can make the journey in your place. The cult came first, and she gave up her transportation, and remained behind that winter in Winter Quarters. She and her children survived the winter living in a cave! Eventually, she hitched a ride with someone else, and got to Utah. Out of that family came some strong women--one of the first woman missionaries, a General Relief Society president, women active in the Republican Party (when all the Mormons were Democrats, in that era.), one of the funding founders of BYU Academy, which later became BYU. More of this side of the family has left the cult. The polygamist Prophets' side is still enjoying its "Royalty" status as Stake Presidents, Mission Presidents, General Sunday School Board.
All these ancestors' journals, with the good and bad, and a great deal of truth, have been confiscated by BYU, and haven't been seen since. We think the cult destroyed them. I was privileged to read them, and sorry I didn't disobey orders and make copies.