While it may come as a surprise to many Mormons today, the LDS church once found it very important to prove that Joseph Smith originated and practiced plural marriage during his lifetime. Specifically, it was important to demonstrate that the practice came from Joseph and not from his successor, Brigham Young. As such, the doctrine could be considered to be an element of the “primitive” LDS church and not a later doctrinal addition or development.

While the subsequent discontinuation of the practice and suppression of the teaching of the doctrine and history surrounding plural marriage has all but removed this facet of Mormonism from the landscape of most modern Mormons – the documentary record from the age of “proudly proclaiming polygamy” is now more accessible than ever, thanks to the internet.

Temple Lot Affidavits

Much of the best documentation comes from affidavits taken under oath by individuals who were themselves participants in the plural marriages of Joseph Smith. Many of the affidavits were given during the Temple Lot Case trial where the Utah LDS church found it advantageous to document the reality of Joseph’s doctrine and practice of plural marriage in assisting the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) during the trial. As a result, the Temple Lot Case transcripts contain the records of numerous sworn statements and affidavits.

Sparring with the RLDS

JFS

Additionally, Elder Joseph Fielding Smith (JFS), then working in the office of the Church Historian and Recorder, had a prolonged correspondence with Richard C. Evans, second counselor in the Presidency of the “Reorganized” Church refuting charges Evans had made in the press regarding certain LDS doctrines. In addition to discussing the doctrine of Blood Atonement, the JFS made a strong documentary case that Joseph had originated plural marriage. Having access to them in the Church Historians office, he had collected numerous affidavits, mostly from the Temple Lot Case, and included many of them in his correspondence with Evans.

The letters that resulted from the exchange were published by the church in a pamphlet later that year.

Blood Atonement and Plural Marriage – like a cursed ancient relic, this century old pamphlet has induced faith crises.

While JFS had collected records of over a hundred affidavits attesting to the reality and circumstances of Joseph Smith Jr.’s polygamy, the shift of focus away from polygamy made such documentation troublesome for the church, and his collection of affidavits was consigned to the restricted church archives and all but lost to memory.

Raiders of the Lost Archive

It would happen that decades later, JFS Affidavit books would again see the light of day. Danel Bachman, a faithful member and master’s degree candidate at Purdue, had learned of the affidavits from reading the correspondence between JFS and Mr. Evans and his interest in the affidavits met with a chance opportunity to search the archives. He told of this serendipitous adventure in an email correspondence with independent LDS researcher Brian Hales:

“I was on sabbatical from my work and doing research for my master’s thesis in the spring of 1975, during the Arrington years. …I knew from reading Joseph Fielding Smith’s book, Blood Atonement and the Origin of Plural Marriage, that there were many affidavits about the subject in the archives. I think he even said there were over 100. I had been collecting and recording according to date every affidavit I could find, but at that time I didn’t have half as many as President Smith said were in the church’s possession.

One day I was talking about this subject with Ron Esplin . I told him that I suspected that there were a lot of affidavits on plural marriage in the archives and that they may have been collected by Joseph F. Smith around 1869 – did he know who catalogued the Joseph F. Smith papers? He said, “Yes, I did” I asked him if he had seen any affidavits on plural marriage in the collection. He thought he did, but his memory was vague about it. Hope surged through me. I asked if the collection was in the catalogue yet and he said it was not. I asked him if there was any way I could search it. He said, if you know the collection number you can request specific years. I asked, “How do I get the collection number?” He rattled it off to me, and suggested I request the boxes pertaining to 1869.

I immediately did so, and half an hour later one of the girls in the Archive Search Room came and told me they had just come down. I took the two record boxes to my desk and opened them. There were two journal-like books in one box and a third one in the second box. I don’t recall what other things, if any, were in the boxes, but I opened the first journal and the title page read “Forty Affidavits on Celestial Marriage.”

I froze and my blood ran chill.

I was so thrilled, but I worried that if someone in the archives knew what I was looking at, they may not want me to have it. That, despite the fact that they had been very open with me. I decided they would probably reject my request to copy all three, so I just sat down at the typewriter, and typed each affidavit on a separate 4X6 index card.

…I believe that other than Jenson, Joseph Fielding Smith, and perhaps some insiders of the CHO, I am probably the first independent researcher to learn of and see them.”
(Email correspondence from Dan Bachman to Brian Hales, mormonpolygamydocuments.org)

Bachman went on to complete his masters thesis “A Study Of The Mormon Practice Of Plural Marriage Before The Death Of Joseph Smith” which was the first academic exploration of Joseph Smith’s polygamy having the benefit of the affidavits. Subsequent publications by Van Wagoner, Compton and others benefited greatly from these affidavits.

Sunshine on the Affidavits

While the affidavits were given limited availability to researchers with privileged access who would then author books for sale, the lay church members would have to rely on footnotes and citations in those publications. For example – if you explore the website wivesofjosephsmith.org you will see that the documentation for each wife points to a page from books such as “In Sacred Loneliness” by Todd Compton or “Mormon Polygamy: A History” by Van Wagoner – even when those references rely completely on the affidavits themselves.

That lamentable situation is no longer the case. For the first time, the scanned pages of the JFS Affidavit books are now available for anyone to review and reference on archive.org. I am including an index of the affidavits here with brief notes about the significance of each one as well as direct links so that you can view the pages themselves.

Having these documents available will provide an invaluable resource for members who are interested in learning for themselves the nature of Joseph’s own origination and involvement with the practice of plural marriage.

The Affidavits