Plural Marriage Troubles (part 1): John C. Bennett, Hyrum Smith, & Emma​

As Joseph Smith quietly practiced plural marriage in Nauvoo in 1842 and ’43, all was not well. Three people in particular complicated things for Joseph. The first was John C. Bennett, a highly gifted convert whose meteoric rise to civic and church leadership in Nauvoo abruptly ended when he was exposed for his secret practice of “spiritual wifery,” which was nothing more or less than illicit serial adultery. Following his excommunication, Bennett’s defamatory opposition was fierce and directly impacted Joseph’s own private practice of plural marriage. And surprisingly, Joseph’s own brother and member of the first presidency, Hyrum Smith, was openly opposed to polygamy during this time and sought to use his influence to put down any hint of it in Nauvoo, all the while suspecting that his brother and others of the apostles may be living it. Yet amidst his opposition, in one key moment everything changed for Hyrum. And Joseph’s wife Emma Smith was the third and most important person in his life to complicate his practice of plural marriage. Although she sought for a time to embrace it, Emma struggled mightily with this practice on many levels to the point that it almost ended their marriage. In this episode of Church History Matters, we discuss each of these three individuals, John C. Bennett, Hyrum, and Emma Smith, and how each factored into the complexities and troubles of living plural marriage in Nauvoo. This is the third episode of our 6-part podcast series on the history of Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For a full transcript of this episode, as well as show notes and additional resources, visit our website at https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.o... You can also subscribe to our podcast via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and other platforms, and follow us on popular social media platforms. Visit https://linktr.ee/churchhistorymatters to connect with us. Originally published June 6, 2023 DISCLAIMER: While we try very hard to be historically and doctrinally accurate in what we say on this podcast, please remember that all views expressed in this and every episode are our views alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Scripture Central or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.