alanmolstad
01-27-2016, 03:54 PM
Catherine Fuller Warren
The same "fall of 1841" evening that Melissa Schindle was propositioned by Smith, she was staying the night with recently married Catherine Fuller Warren. Schindle said that after she turned Smith down, "He then went to an adjoining bed where [Catherine]. was sleeping [,] got into bed with her and laid there until about 1 o'clock, then he got up" and left.[41] John C. Bennett in his own affidavit also affirmed that, "He has seen Joseph Smith in bed with Mrs. Fuller" [Catherine Fuller Warren].[42] In a more complete statement of this same affidavit, Bennett said Smith seduced women like Mrs. Fuller Warren, "by telling them that the Lord had granted the blessing of Jacob, and that there was no sin in it-that he [Smith] told him that. he had free access to Mrs. ______, Mrs. ______, Mrs. ______, and various others."[43]
Improper sexual advances relating to the Stowell daughters, Eliza Winters, Marinda Nancy Johnson, Vienna Jacques, Miss Hill, Fanny Alger, Lucinda Harris, Sarah Pratt, Melissa Schindle, and Catherine Fuller Warren were made against the character of Joseph Smith from 1827-1841. The fact the accusations came from persons in four, possibly five different states during a fourteen year period is both unusual and troubling. Smith's secretive behavior was always hidden from his wife Emma-unless she discovered him. Perhaps Emma's cousins, Levi and Hiel Lewis were accurate when they expressed in 1834, that to Joseph Smith, "adultery was no crime." His denials and clandestine demeanor have all the earmarks of adultery-with little regard for the seventh commandment: "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14).
Three months after Sarah Pratt turned Joseph Smith's proposition down in late 1840 or early 1841, he married Louisa Beaman on April 5, 1841. During this short interval, Smith had streamlined his approach beyond mutual sexual consent. He had modified his sexual practice by requiring a marriage/sealing ceremony, requiring a witness, requiring that the ceremony be performed with his permission and by an authorized priesthood holder. In other words Smith's sexual practice became structured and religiously ins***utionalized. Louisa Beaman became his first plural wife on the above date and the ceremony was performed and witnessed by her brother-in-law, Joseph B. Noble.[44] Erastus Snow, another relative of the Beaman family, said that Noble was "officiating in a grove Near Main Street in the City of Nauvoo. The Prophet Joseph dictating the ceremony and Br Nobles repeating it after him."[45]
All of Smith's future plural marriage/sealing ceremonies essentially followed this pattern. On October 27, 1841, seven months after marrying Louisa Beaman, Smith took his second plural wife-the recently married twenty-two year old and six months pregnant Zina Huntington Jacobs-which followed the same marriage/sealing pattern as the Beaman sealing, except Zina's brother Dimick performed the ceremony and his wife Fanny acted as witness.[46] However, this did not mean that Smith no longer had or desired consensual sex relationships. As we have already noted, between the interval of the two marriage ceremonies, Smith appears to have continued his sexual consent only approach on Melissa Schindle and Catherine Fuller Warren-suggesting he was practicing both adultery and polygamy simultaneously.
Additionally, of the thirty-three women listed by Todd Compton as being plural wives of Joseph Smith, twelve do not have an officiator, ceremony or witness to their marriage/sealing. Fanny Alger and Mrs. Lucinda Harris, who we have already discussed, fall into this category in the 1830s; Mrs. Sylvia Sessions, Mrs. Elizabeth Durfee, Mrs. Sarah Cleveland, and widow Delcena Johnson, in 1842; and single women, Flora Ann Woodworth, Sarah and Maria Lawrence, Hannah Ells, Olive Frost and Nancy Winchester, in 1843.[47] Is inadequate record keeping the problem, or are some of these women-especially the married ones-sexual consent relationships?
Ten days after marrying Mrs. Zina Huntington Jacobs, Smith taught the saints at Nauvoo on November 7, 1841 the importance of secrecy, saying:
If you do not accuse each other, God will not accuse you. If you have no accuser you will enter heaven, and if you follow the revelations and instructions which God gives you through me, I will take you into heaven on my back load. If you will not accuse me, I will not accuse you. If you will throw a cloak of charity over my sins, I will over yours-for charity covereth a mul***ude of sins. What many people call sin is not sin; I do many things to break down supers***ion, and I will break it down.[48]
This philosophy was already being practiced by Joseph Smith and John C. Bennett of the First Presidency of the Church, and others soon followed such as Joseph's brother and Apostle William Smith, Chauncey L. Higbee, Lyman O. Littlefield, Joel S. Miles, Darwin Chase and others. By May 1842, a number of cases of alleged sexual misconduct against both men and women were brought before the Nauvoo Stake High Council, including most of those named above. The pattern of the female witnesses testifying before the Council was that these men taught: (1) "That any respectable female might indulge in sexual intercourse, and there was no sin in it, (2) providing the person so indulging, keep [kept] the same to herself; (3) for there could be no sin where there was no accuser;" and (4) "using the name of Joseph Smith" they affirmed "that such intercourse was tolerated by the heads of the Church."[49]
The problem was that Bennett and the others in their eagerness were not careful, were exposed, and now had "accusers." Most of them were disciplined or withdrew from the church in 1842.[50]
Smith had his own highly questionable methods of getting females to say yes to his proposals from 1841-1844. Claiming to possess the religious "keys" to "bind" or "loose" on earth and in heaven is a power that seems to have made him feel increasingly invincible before God. In January 1842, he told seventeen year old Martha Brotherton after she hesitated to accept Brigham Young's offer of being his plural wife: "Just go ahead, and do as Brigham wants.. I know this is lawful and right before God.. I have the keys of the kingdom, and whatever I bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever I loose on earth is loosed in heaven." Martha not only declined the offer, but published her story in the July 15, 1842 St. Louis Bulletin.
Claiming heavenly sealing keys to "bind and loose" gave Smith tremendous power over church members. He used it as an inducement to persuade at least three and probably four young females to accept his proposals between mid-July 1842 and mid-May 1843. Sarah Ann Whitney, Helen Mar Kimball, Lucy Walker and perhaps Flora Woodwortth-all between the ages of fourteen and seventeen were persuaded by this approach. Newel K. Whitney, Sarah Ann's father was promised by Smith to receive "eternal life to all your house, both old and young," by having Sarah Ann marry him.[51] He told Helen Mar Kimball in front of her father, Heber C. Kimball, that: "If you will take this step, it will ensure your eternal salvation & exaltation and that of your father's household & all of your kindred."[52] Helen Mar felt pressure to do this even though she didn't want to because "the salvation of our whole family depended on it."[53] Lucy Walker, like the other two girls was told by Smith that by marrying him, "that it would prove an everlasting blessing to my father's house." But after several hesitations, Lucy was informed of the other side of Smith's sealing power. He told her that rejecting his offer would bring eternal ****ation. Of his marriage proposal to her, Smith said: "It is a command of God to you .. If you reject this message the gate will be closed forever against you."[54] Flora Ann Woodworth may have also been persuaded by her parents Lucien and Phebe Woodworth, "to marry [Smith] to secure her family's salvation."[55]
Smith progressively used his claimed sealing powers to expand his influence on members (cf., LDS D&C 128:10-11). In July 1843, he specified that he had received "exaltation" and "a throne" was awaiting him in heaven (LDS D&C 132:49). By March 1844, Smith had himself ordained "King" of the earth, and announced he was, "A God to this generation."[56]
A second method Smith used to get females to say yes to his proposals was to send family males on a mission that might or did object to his advances. For example, unlike his approach of obtaining parental permission of the Whitney's, Kimball's, and the Woodworth's, before asking for their young daughters hand in marriage, Smith directly approached young Lucy Walker only after sending her father, John Walker, on a mission.[57] He also sent Horace Whitney on a mission because he felt that Horace was too close to his sister Sarah Ann, and would oppose the marriage.[58] Smith married Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde, a year before her husband Orson, an Apostle, returned from his mission.[59] He also approached Sarah Pratt while her husband Orson, an Apostle, was on a mission.[60]
taken from http://mormonthink.com/grant6.htm
The same "fall of 1841" evening that Melissa Schindle was propositioned by Smith, she was staying the night with recently married Catherine Fuller Warren. Schindle said that after she turned Smith down, "He then went to an adjoining bed where [Catherine]. was sleeping [,] got into bed with her and laid there until about 1 o'clock, then he got up" and left.[41] John C. Bennett in his own affidavit also affirmed that, "He has seen Joseph Smith in bed with Mrs. Fuller" [Catherine Fuller Warren].[42] In a more complete statement of this same affidavit, Bennett said Smith seduced women like Mrs. Fuller Warren, "by telling them that the Lord had granted the blessing of Jacob, and that there was no sin in it-that he [Smith] told him that. he had free access to Mrs. ______, Mrs. ______, Mrs. ______, and various others."[43]
Improper sexual advances relating to the Stowell daughters, Eliza Winters, Marinda Nancy Johnson, Vienna Jacques, Miss Hill, Fanny Alger, Lucinda Harris, Sarah Pratt, Melissa Schindle, and Catherine Fuller Warren were made against the character of Joseph Smith from 1827-1841. The fact the accusations came from persons in four, possibly five different states during a fourteen year period is both unusual and troubling. Smith's secretive behavior was always hidden from his wife Emma-unless she discovered him. Perhaps Emma's cousins, Levi and Hiel Lewis were accurate when they expressed in 1834, that to Joseph Smith, "adultery was no crime." His denials and clandestine demeanor have all the earmarks of adultery-with little regard for the seventh commandment: "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14).
Three months after Sarah Pratt turned Joseph Smith's proposition down in late 1840 or early 1841, he married Louisa Beaman on April 5, 1841. During this short interval, Smith had streamlined his approach beyond mutual sexual consent. He had modified his sexual practice by requiring a marriage/sealing ceremony, requiring a witness, requiring that the ceremony be performed with his permission and by an authorized priesthood holder. In other words Smith's sexual practice became structured and religiously ins***utionalized. Louisa Beaman became his first plural wife on the above date and the ceremony was performed and witnessed by her brother-in-law, Joseph B. Noble.[44] Erastus Snow, another relative of the Beaman family, said that Noble was "officiating in a grove Near Main Street in the City of Nauvoo. The Prophet Joseph dictating the ceremony and Br Nobles repeating it after him."[45]
All of Smith's future plural marriage/sealing ceremonies essentially followed this pattern. On October 27, 1841, seven months after marrying Louisa Beaman, Smith took his second plural wife-the recently married twenty-two year old and six months pregnant Zina Huntington Jacobs-which followed the same marriage/sealing pattern as the Beaman sealing, except Zina's brother Dimick performed the ceremony and his wife Fanny acted as witness.[46] However, this did not mean that Smith no longer had or desired consensual sex relationships. As we have already noted, between the interval of the two marriage ceremonies, Smith appears to have continued his sexual consent only approach on Melissa Schindle and Catherine Fuller Warren-suggesting he was practicing both adultery and polygamy simultaneously.
Additionally, of the thirty-three women listed by Todd Compton as being plural wives of Joseph Smith, twelve do not have an officiator, ceremony or witness to their marriage/sealing. Fanny Alger and Mrs. Lucinda Harris, who we have already discussed, fall into this category in the 1830s; Mrs. Sylvia Sessions, Mrs. Elizabeth Durfee, Mrs. Sarah Cleveland, and widow Delcena Johnson, in 1842; and single women, Flora Ann Woodworth, Sarah and Maria Lawrence, Hannah Ells, Olive Frost and Nancy Winchester, in 1843.[47] Is inadequate record keeping the problem, or are some of these women-especially the married ones-sexual consent relationships?
Ten days after marrying Mrs. Zina Huntington Jacobs, Smith taught the saints at Nauvoo on November 7, 1841 the importance of secrecy, saying:
If you do not accuse each other, God will not accuse you. If you have no accuser you will enter heaven, and if you follow the revelations and instructions which God gives you through me, I will take you into heaven on my back load. If you will not accuse me, I will not accuse you. If you will throw a cloak of charity over my sins, I will over yours-for charity covereth a mul***ude of sins. What many people call sin is not sin; I do many things to break down supers***ion, and I will break it down.[48]
This philosophy was already being practiced by Joseph Smith and John C. Bennett of the First Presidency of the Church, and others soon followed such as Joseph's brother and Apostle William Smith, Chauncey L. Higbee, Lyman O. Littlefield, Joel S. Miles, Darwin Chase and others. By May 1842, a number of cases of alleged sexual misconduct against both men and women were brought before the Nauvoo Stake High Council, including most of those named above. The pattern of the female witnesses testifying before the Council was that these men taught: (1) "That any respectable female might indulge in sexual intercourse, and there was no sin in it, (2) providing the person so indulging, keep [kept] the same to herself; (3) for there could be no sin where there was no accuser;" and (4) "using the name of Joseph Smith" they affirmed "that such intercourse was tolerated by the heads of the Church."[49]
The problem was that Bennett and the others in their eagerness were not careful, were exposed, and now had "accusers." Most of them were disciplined or withdrew from the church in 1842.[50]
Smith had his own highly questionable methods of getting females to say yes to his proposals from 1841-1844. Claiming to possess the religious "keys" to "bind" or "loose" on earth and in heaven is a power that seems to have made him feel increasingly invincible before God. In January 1842, he told seventeen year old Martha Brotherton after she hesitated to accept Brigham Young's offer of being his plural wife: "Just go ahead, and do as Brigham wants.. I know this is lawful and right before God.. I have the keys of the kingdom, and whatever I bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever I loose on earth is loosed in heaven." Martha not only declined the offer, but published her story in the July 15, 1842 St. Louis Bulletin.
Claiming heavenly sealing keys to "bind and loose" gave Smith tremendous power over church members. He used it as an inducement to persuade at least three and probably four young females to accept his proposals between mid-July 1842 and mid-May 1843. Sarah Ann Whitney, Helen Mar Kimball, Lucy Walker and perhaps Flora Woodwortth-all between the ages of fourteen and seventeen were persuaded by this approach. Newel K. Whitney, Sarah Ann's father was promised by Smith to receive "eternal life to all your house, both old and young," by having Sarah Ann marry him.[51] He told Helen Mar Kimball in front of her father, Heber C. Kimball, that: "If you will take this step, it will ensure your eternal salvation & exaltation and that of your father's household & all of your kindred."[52] Helen Mar felt pressure to do this even though she didn't want to because "the salvation of our whole family depended on it."[53] Lucy Walker, like the other two girls was told by Smith that by marrying him, "that it would prove an everlasting blessing to my father's house." But after several hesitations, Lucy was informed of the other side of Smith's sealing power. He told her that rejecting his offer would bring eternal ****ation. Of his marriage proposal to her, Smith said: "It is a command of God to you .. If you reject this message the gate will be closed forever against you."[54] Flora Ann Woodworth may have also been persuaded by her parents Lucien and Phebe Woodworth, "to marry [Smith] to secure her family's salvation."[55]
Smith progressively used his claimed sealing powers to expand his influence on members (cf., LDS D&C 128:10-11). In July 1843, he specified that he had received "exaltation" and "a throne" was awaiting him in heaven (LDS D&C 132:49). By March 1844, Smith had himself ordained "King" of the earth, and announced he was, "A God to this generation."[56]
A second method Smith used to get females to say yes to his proposals was to send family males on a mission that might or did object to his advances. For example, unlike his approach of obtaining parental permission of the Whitney's, Kimball's, and the Woodworth's, before asking for their young daughters hand in marriage, Smith directly approached young Lucy Walker only after sending her father, John Walker, on a mission.[57] He also sent Horace Whitney on a mission because he felt that Horace was too close to his sister Sarah Ann, and would oppose the marriage.[58] Smith married Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde, a year before her husband Orson, an Apostle, returned from his mission.[59] He also approached Sarah Pratt while her husband Orson, an Apostle, was on a mission.[60]
taken from http://mormonthink.com/grant6.htm