Angel with a Drawn Sword

Joseph Smith, an Angel with a Drawn Sword, and Plural Marriage

By Don Bradley and Brian C. Hales

Research suggests that Joseph Smith entered his first plural marriage in Kirtland, sometime in the 1833-35 time period.[1] The historical record is silent regarding the timeline and interactions between Joseph and Fanny. In retrospect, however, it appears that this first plural marriage of Joseph Smith could not have turned out worse. The consequences were far reaching and resulted in challenges for Joseph’s legal wife Emma, Fanny Alger herself, and Associate Church President Oliver Cowdery. Evidence exists suggesting that it may have contributed to the Church-wide crisis at Kirtland, Ohio two years later. Richard Van Wagoner observed: “The difficulties [of] the Fanny Alger situation… seriously hampered Joseph Smith’s apparent enthusiasm for plural marriage.”[2] Bruised by the repercussions, he continued a monogamous path but not for long. It appears that by 1841 the angelic visitor would visit him, heralding specific directives that the Prophet could not easily refuse.

Joseph Smith was destined to receive specific priesthood keys that would allow him to “bind on earth” things that will be “bound in heaven” including marriages (Matt. 16:19, also D&C 132:45-46).[3] During the dedication of the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836, Joseph and Oliver Cowdery received a visitation from Jesus Christ and later Elijah (D&C 110:2, 13-15). Elijah bestowed upon Joseph Smith the keys of sealing authority. LDS theology teaches that Elijah was the last prophet of the Old Testament to hold those important priesthood keys.[4]

Orson Pratt taught: “They are the sealing keys of power, or in other words, of Elijah, having been committed and restored to the earth by Elijah, the Prophet, who held many keys, among which were the keys of sealing, to bind the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers; together with all the other sealing keys and powers, pertaining to the last dispensation. They were committed by that Angel who administered in the Kirtland Temple, and spoke unto Joseph the Prophet, at the time of the endowments in that house.”[5]

Despite the 1836 date for the restoration of the keys by Elijah, it appears that Joseph Smith did not exercise those keys to “seal” a marriage until April 1841 when he was sealed to Louisa Beaman.[6] Helen Mar Kimball Whitney remembered: “Joseph put off the dreaded day as long as he dared.”[7]

A few authors have asserted that Joseph Smith had sexual relationships (with or without marriage ceremonies) with several separate women during the 1836-1841 periods.[8] Klaus Hansen asserted: “There is… considerable evidence that the prophet had taken several wives even before [April 5, 1841].”[9] Foremost of these authors is Fawn Brodie:

Fawn Brodie’s List of Joseph Smith’s Alleged Plural Wives After Fanny Alger
(As found in No Man Knows My History, pages 335-36)
Name of Alleged Wife / Age When Married / Date of Marriage
Fannie Alger / 17? / 1836
Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris / 37? / 1838?
Prescindia Huntington Buell / 29? / 1839?
Nancy Marinda Johnson Hyde / 24? / 1839?
Clarissa Reed Hancock / 35? / 1840?
Louisa Beaman / 26 / April 5, 1841

The presence of question marks next to the ages and marriage dates is important and Several authors disagree with Brodie regarding Clarissa Reed Hancock’s purported marriage to Joseph.[10] Regardless, throughout No Man Knows My History, Brodie seems content portraying the Prophet as completely unconcerned with the complexities and difficulties that resulted from his first venture into plural marriage with Fanny Alger (or any other problems that might have occurred consequent of other polygamous activities). Nevertheless, the historical record shows that he was indeed concerned and influenced by such problems. Reportedly on July 29, 1838, the Joseph complained: “I have been beaten, abused, stoned, persecuted, and have had to escape by day and by night. I have been sued at law and have always proved myself innocent. I have had twenty one lawsuits.”[11]

Notwithstanding the paucity of evidence, Brodie assumes Joseph simply had an affair with Alger and then would go on having many more, unhampered by conscience or other constraints. Frank Pitman, author of Private Lies: Infidelity and the Betrayal of Intimacy, wrote: “Affairs are considered dishonorable acts, and people who feel guilty for having affairs believe that they are dishonorable.” [12] Regardless, Brodie is convinced that Joseph would sail right on, not waiting long before his next sexual escapade or garnering another wife or two. In her book, she simply plugs in the names of different women without any substantial evidence (beyond her personal suspicions) regarding dates. The one exception is Lucinda Pendleton Harris, who Compton and a few others also believe Joseph may have married in 1838.[13]

Date of Marriage / Brodie / Compton / Hales
Pre-1833-35 / Pre-Fanny Alger?
1833-35 / Fannie Alger
1838 / Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris / No additional plural wives
1839 / Prescindia Huntington Buell / No additional plural wives
Nancy Marinda Johnson Hyde
1840 / Clarissa Reed Hancock
1841 / Louisa Beaman

Historian D. Michael Quinn seems less convinced, dating the Lucinda Pendleton Harris marriage to Joseph Smith as occurring in the “1838-1842” span.[14] On his list of forty-six possible wives of Joseph Smith, Quinn does not identify any other possible marriages as definitely taking place chronologically between Fanny Alger and Louisa Beaman in 1841.

Available evidences strongly suggest that Joseph Smith did not marry any additional plural wives until 1841, which is consistent with what would normally be expected of a man who had been through the aftermath of the Alger breakup in Kirtland. Richard L. Bushman noted that “After this one unsuccessful attempt” of plural marriage with Fanny Alger, Joseph Smith “waited another five years. The delay showed an uncharacteristic reluctance, hard for one who feared God… Joseph never wrote his personal feelings about plural marriage… everything on the subject comes from the people around him. But surely he realized that plural marriage would inflict terrible damage, that he ran the risk of wrecking his marriage and alienating his followers.”[15] Helen Mar Kimball Whitney stated that: “Had it not been for the fear of [the Lord’s] displeasure, Joseph would have shrunk from the undertaking and would have continued silent, as he did for years.”[16]

Joseph also had other fears. He had been mobbed and tarred and feathered in Hiram, Ohio. The memory of that experience may be why he lamented to Levi Hancock, as cited above: ‘Brother Levi, if I should make known to my brethren what God has made known to me they would seek my life.’”[17] So in the face of these anxieties, we ask what might have prompted him to move forward personally and marry polygamously and in teaching others to do likewise?

Several writers left accounts that Joseph told of an angel with a sword who threatened him if he did not proceed. The two charts summarize the various early accounts. The first provides quotations that may be first-hand, meaning the individual cited may have heard about the angel and the sword directly from Joseph Smith.

Date
Published / Possible First-hand Witnesses / Quotation / Reference
1853 or possibly earlier[18] / Joseph Lee Robinson / “The Lord instead of releasing [Joseph Smith] from that burden, he sent an holy angel with a drawn sword unto him, saying unto him, Joseph, unless you go to and immediately teach that principle (namely polygamy or plural marriage) and put the same in practice, that he, Joseph, should be slain for thus saith the Lord, that the time has now come that I will raise up seed unto me as I spoke by my servant Jacob as is recorded in the Book of Mormon, therefore, I command my people.” / Joseph Lee Robinson Reminiscences and Journal, 25. (CHD MS 7042 1-3)
1869 / Lorenzo Snow / “[Joseph Smith] said that the Lord had revealed [the doctrine of the plurality of wives] unto him and commanded him to have women sealed to him as wives, that he foresaw the trouble that would follow and sought to turn away from the commandment, that an angel from heaven appeared before him with a drawn sword, threatening him with destruction unless he went forward and obeyed the commandment.” / Affidavit signed August 18, 1869; cited in Andrew Jenson, Historical Record, 6:222; see also Joseph Fielding Smith, Blood Atonement and the Origin of Plural Marriage (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1905), 67.
1870 / Benjamin F. Johnson / “[Joseph Smith declared] that an angel appeared unto him with a drawn sword, threatening to slay him if he did not proceed to fulfill the law that had been given to him. / Affidavit quoted in Andrew Jenson, Historical Record, 6:222.
1882 / Helen Mar Kimball Whitney / “This angel, he [Joseph ] states, stood over him with a drawn sword prepared to inflict the penalty of death if he should be disobedient.” / Helen Mar Whitney, Plural Marriage as Taught by the Prophet Joseph: A Reply to Joseph Smith, Editor of the Lamoni Iowa “Herald,” Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882, 13.
1887 / Eliza R. Snow / “[Joseph Smith] received the revelation in 1837, but he was himself afraid to promulgate it until the angel came and stood beside him with flaming sword and bade him do the command of God. Not until then did Joseph enter into polygamy, or get any of his disciples to take plural wives.” / "Two Prophets' Widows A Visit to the Relicts of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young," J. J. J., inSt. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, MO) Thursday, August 18, 1887; pg. 6; Issue 85; col E
1905 / Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner / “The angel came to me three times between the years of 1834 and 1842 and said I was to obey that principle or he would slay me.” / Address at Brigham Young University April 14, 1905.
? / “The angel came to him [Joseph Smith] three times, the last time with a drawn sword and threatened his life.” / Extracts from Mr. Lightner’s autobiography, Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, vol. XVII (1926), 193 ff. Cited in See Brodie, Fawn M. No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, 2nd rev. ed. New York, 1971, 467.

The second chart includes other renditions of the story with a few variations.

Date
Published / Source / Quotation / Reference
1848 / Catherine Lewis / Writes that plural marriage was restored by “an immediate revelation, and that by an Angel.” (No sword is mentioned.) / Lewis, Catherine. Narrative of Some of the Proceedings of the Mormons, etc. Lynn, Mass.: The author, 1848, 11.
1854 / Benjamin G. Ferris
[non-member writer] / “[Joseph Smith] was met by an angel with a drawn sword, and threatened with instant destruction unless he immediately returned and fulfilled his mission.” / Ferris, Benjamin G. Utah and the Mormons, The History, Government, Doctrines, Customs, and Prospects of the Latter-day Saints. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1854, 113.
1884 / Eliza R. Snow quoting Lorenzo Snow / “Joseph told [my brother] Lorenzo Snow that he had ‘hesitated and deferred from time to time, until an angel of God stood by him with a drawn sword and told him that, unless he moved forward and established plural marriage, his Priesthood would be taken from him and he should be destroyed!’” / Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow, Salt Lake City: Deseret news Company, 1884, 69-70.
1885 / Angus Cannon / “When [Joseph Smith] felt to shrink from the responsibility, an angel from heaven stood before him with a drawn sword, saying if he did not move forward and set the example for his brethren by introducing plural marriage, his Priesthood would be taken from him, and he should be destroyed.” / Deseret News Weekly, July 29, 1885, 6.
1885 / Emily Pfeiffer
[non-member writer] / [Joseph Smith] accepted from an angel with a drawn sword, and under threat of destruction on refusal, the command to practice and to diffuse the doctrine of polygamy. / Emily Pfeiffer, Flying Leaves from East and West, London: Field and Tuer, 1885, 147.
1894 / Zina Diantha Huntington quoting her brother / “[Joseph] sent word to me by my brother, saying, ‘Tell Zina I put it off and put it off till an angel with a drawn sword stood by me and told me if I did not establish that principle upon the earth, I would lose my position and my life.’” / Comments made at a Memorial Services in honor
of the Prophet Joseph Smith's
Birthday, held in the Sixteenth Ward Meeting House,
Sunday Evening, December 23, 1894.Quoted in Brian Stuy, Collected Discourses, 5:32.
1896 / Benjamin F. Johnson quoting Hyrum Smith / “Hyrum said to me, ‘Now, Brother Benjamin, you know that Brother Joseph would not sanction this if it was not from the Lord. The Lord revealed this to Brother Joseph long ago, and he put it off until the Angel of the Lord came to him with a drawn sword and told him that he would be slain if he did not go forth and fulfill the law.’” / My Life’s Review 95-96
1903 / “Brother Hyrum [Smith]… took me in hand, apparently in fear I was not fully converted, and this was the manner of his talk to me: ‘Now Benjamin, you must not be afraid of this new doctrine, for it is all right. You know Brother Hyrum don't get carried away by worldly things, and he fought this principle until the Lord showed him it was true. I know that Joseph was commanded to take more wives, and he waited until an angel with a drawn sword stood before him and declared that if he longer delayed fulfilling that command he would slay him.’ / Zimmerman 43

Analyzing the Angel-Sword Accounts