A Lady's Life Among the Mormons

Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2008 Exposé of Polygamy: A Lady's Life among the Mormons Fanny Stenhouse Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the History of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Stenhouse, T. B. H., & DeSimone, L. W. (2008). Expose ́ of polygamy: A lady's life among the Mormons. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Exposé of Polygamy A Lady’s Life among the Mormons Volume 10 Life Writings of Frontier Women Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society, all rights reserved. Fanny Stenhouse. Exposé of Polygamy: A Lady’s Life among the Mormons Fanny Stenhouse Edited by Linda Wilcox DeSimone Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 2008 Copyright © 2008 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322–7800 www.usu.edu/usupress Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free paper ISBN: 978–0–87421–713–1 (cloth) ISBN: 978–0–87421–714–8 (e-book) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stenhouse, T. B. H., Mrs., b. 1829. Exposé of polygamy : a lady’s life among the Mormons / Fanny Stenhouse ; edited by Linda Wilcox DeSimone. p. cm. – (Life writings of frontier women ; v. 10) Originally published: New York : American News Co., 1872. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87421-713-1 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-87421-714-8 (e-book : alk. paper) 1. Mormon Church--Controversial literature. 2. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--Doctrines. 3. Mormon Church--Doctrines. 4. Polygamy-- Religious aspects--Mormon Church. 5. Stenhouse, T. B. H., Mrs., b. 1829. I. DeSimone, Linda Wilcox. II. Title. BX8645.S67 2008 289.3’79225--dc22 [B] 2008008575 Contents Preface vii Introduction: Reckoning with Fanny Stenhouse 1 Exposé of Polygamy in Utah: A Lady’s Life among the Mormons 23 To the Reader 27 Contents 29 Illustrations 34 Chapter I 35 Chapter II 37 Chapter III 39 Chapter IV 43 Chapter V 47 Chapter VI 54 Chapter VII 60 Chapter VIII 65 Chapter IX 69 Chapter X 75 Chapter XI 81 Chapter XII 86 Chapter XIII 93 Chapter XIV 100 Chapter XV 107 Chapter XVI 118 Chapter XVII 124 Chapter XVIII 129 Chapter XIX 141 Chapter XX 151 Appendix 156 Epilogue: The 1872 Exposé of Polygamy Compared with the 1874 “Tell It All” 168 Appendix: List of Editions 172 Notes 179 Index 193 vi Preface I fi rst want to thank Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, formerly the general editor of the Life Writings of Frontier Women series from Utah State University Press, who is responsible for the birth of this book. One day when she and I met for a catch-up lunch, she suggested the possibility of a project in the series that would bring Fanny Stenhouse’s fi rst book about her experiences in Mormonism and polygamy back into print. Although I was interested in the project (especially since my daughter had recently married into the Stenhouse family), it took another several months for me to contact her again about the project and begin to fl esh out with her the framework for moving forward. Maureen generously shared with me her own copies of several versions of Stenhouse’s book and provided ongoing encouragement as well as the benefi t of her felicitous phrasing. John R. Alley, executive editor at the Utah State University Press, has also been a constant source of support. His quick response to questions, his patience in providing technical information, and his helpful editorial suggestions and guidance all have alleviated anxieties and smoothed the way. Many special thanks go to Stenhouse descendants Douglas Simms Stenhouse and Carolyn Young Hunsaker. Douglas, a grandson of Fanny Stenhouse’s seventh child, T. B. H. Jr., shared with me at our fi rst meet- ing the work he had collected on his family’s history, including an account he had written of the lives of his ancestors T. B. H. and Fanny Stenhouse. He also put me in touch with Carolyn Young Hunsaker, a descendant through Fanny Stenhouse’s eldest daughter, Clara. Carolyn has been extraordinarily generous and helpful in sharing her own research and family stories—as well as those of her aunt LeJeune Young Decker—answering innumerable questions, showing me artifacts from the family’s pioneer heritage, and in general providing an accommodating sounding board that helped me work through the many pieces of the Stenhouse family history. I have also benefi ted from the assistance of the staff at L. Tom Perry Special Collections in the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young vii University—especially David Whittaker and Russell Taylor, who made it possible for me to locate and compare the various versions of Stenhouse’s work more easily. The staffs at the Utah State Historical Society/Library Research Center and the Church History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were similarly accommodating. KH In reproducing the text of Fanny Stenhouse’s Exposé of Polygamy: A Lady’s Life among the Mormons, I have retained the spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and wording of the 1872 fi rst edition so as to provide here an exact transcription of her fi rst book. Introduction Reckoning with Fanny Stenhouse The name Fanny Stenhouse may bring to the mind of someone vaguely familiar with it associations such as Fanny Stenhouse = anti-Mormon, anti- polygamy crusader, lurid exposé author. Her reputation or, in some minds, notoriety is largely based on her massive exposé, “Tell It All,” in which she describes in fascinating detail her experience as a Mormon, the unusual doctrines and practices of Mormonism, and especially the damaging effects of polygamy as she observed and experienced them. Stenhouse and her book became national and even international phenomena. The book went through many editions, and she went on the lecture circuit and testifi ed before Congress as part of the national debate on Mormons and polygamy. Yet this was not Stenhouse’s original telling of her story. Two years before the 1874 publication of the wildly popular “Tell It All” and soon after her break with Mormonism, she wrote a shorter memoir. This version, titled Exposé of Polygamy in Utah: A Lady’s Life among the Mormons. A Record of Personal Experience as one of the Wives of a Mormon Elder during a Period of more than Twenty Years, reveals a different woman and a different voice from the more highly colored ones of the later, longer book. The fi rst account of Stenhouse’s experience has been sidelined, largely forgot- ten and subsumed in the image of the later Fanny Stenhouse. But that early version lets us see a sensibility more immediate and honest, experience a forthright and restrained writing style, and make acquaintance with a more human and sympathetic woman. A detailed description of the book’s contents is unnecessary, since Stenhouse is a compelling storyteller and makes it easy for readers to discover and understand her experiences on their own. Along with Stenhouse’s own personal history we fi nd illuminating pictures of general Mormon life and society; extensive descriptions, comments, and analyses of polygamy in its many forms and ramifi cations; and a fair amount of Stenhouse’s philosophy regarding life, God, human nature, and love. 1 2 Exposé of Polygamy Stenhouse’s personal history is simply told. She briefl y recounts her early life, conversion to Mormonism, missionary work with her husband in Switzerland, church experiences in England, and life in New York and eventually Salt Lake City. Her description of herself when young as religiously oriented, a seeker and Bible reader, makes it easy to understand why she would fi nd Mormonism—with its stories of angels, apos- tles, and continuing revelation—attractive and compelling. She goes on to describe her gradual disillusionment with the Latter-day Saints after a long struggle with the doctrine and practice of polygamy and how she and her husband fi nally left the church. In giving an account of her own life, Stenhouse provides glimpses into the hierarchal structure and community life of Mormon society. She shows us the workings of the church both in England and Switzerland—the activ- ities of the proselytizing elders and visiting church authorities, including their behaviors and foibles, and how missionary work and emigration was funded and organized. She recalls her favorable impressions, upon reach- ing Salt Lake City, of Brigham Young and his wives, whom she generally treats fairly. She provides a restrained account of going to the Endowment House—where church leaders administered sacred ordinances, including those concerned with plural marriage—minus the confi dential details she later provided in “Tell It All.” In her descriptions of balls, social events, and encounters with church authorities in daily life, Stenhouse shows herself to be a sharp-eyed social observer with keen psychological insight into human behavior. Her portrayal of Mormon society helps to set Stenhouse’s experiences in the wider context in which she lived them. What by far looms largest throughout her memoir is Fanny’s nem- esis—polygamy. The title of her book, Exposé of Polygamy in Utah, says it all. Without the practice of polygynous plural marriage in the Mormon church, we would not have this book. Fanny Stenhouse probably would have settled into her life within Utah Mormondom and remained there.

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