"For Life, the Resurrection, and the Life Everlasting": James J. Strang and Strangite Mormon Polygamy, 1849-1856 Author(s): David Rich Lewis Source: The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. 66, No. 4 (Summer, 1983), pp. 274-291 Published by: Wisconsin Historical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4635766 . Accessed: 17/12/2013 11:55 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Wisconsin Historical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Wisconsin Magazine of History. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 129.170.195.144 on Tue, 17 Dec 2013 11:55:25 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "For Life, the Resurrection, and the Life Everlasting": JamesJ. Strang and Strangite Mormon Polygamy, 1849-1856 By David Rich Lewis N the early 1860's, a young man ar- focused on the polygamous practices of one rived in Salt Lake City, Utah Ter- group in particular, the Utah Mormons. ritory, eager, he tells us, to investigate the Despite this attention, polygamy was not workings of Mormon polygamy and present solely a Utah phenomenon. It was also prac- another picture of the institution to an already ticed by other groups during the nineteenth shocked nation. Yet when he saw the Mormon century, including John Humphrey Noyes women, "then I was touched." and his "free-love" community at Oneida, New Simon Lovet and the Perfectionist heart .. .warmed toward these York, My and several schismatic Mormon poor, and societies, ungainly, pathetically One of the better known schismatic "homely" creatures, and as I turned to groups. hide the generous moisture in my eyes, I groups was the Strangite Mormon community said, "No-the man that marries one of of Beaver Island, Michigan, led by their them has done an act of Christian charity Prophet and King, James Jesse Strang. which entitles him to the kindly applause Although several books and articles deal of mankind, not their harsh censure- with this Mormon community and the man be- and the man that marries of them sixty hind it, none has presented an adequate ac- has done a deed of open-handed gener- count of In of the so sublime that the nations should Strangite polygamy. light osity abundant source a reex- stand uncovered in his and relatively material, presence amination and of and worship in silence."' reinterpretation Strang Strangite polygamy and its impact on individ- With his brilliant wit, biting social satire, ual Saints, women, and the Mormon and Gen- and irreverent tongue-in-cheek prose, young tile communities seem warranted.2 While attention Samuel Clemens called the public's much remains hidden by time and by the in- to a issue of moral and recognized political tent of Strang and his followers, the progres- one of the so-called consequence. Polygamy, sion of polygamy on Beaver Island can be of was the of "Twin Relics Barbarism," subject traced with some certainty. Yet the history of numerous con- books, theological treatises, Strangite polygamy is more than that of a pe- gressional debates, moral outcry, and public culiar institution; it is the story of Strang him- consternation. Between 1850 and 1900 the self. To study Strang's writings and actions is plethora of newspaper stories, magazine artic- to understand more fully the man, his beliefs, les, and books on the subject overwhelmingly 2According to Mormon usage, a "Saint" is a member of 'Samuel Clemens, Roughing It (Hartford, Connecticut, the Mormon Church, while a "Gentile" is any non- 1873), 117-118. Mormon. 274 Copyright? 1983 by The State Historical Societyof Wisconsin All rights of reproductionin anyform reserved This content downloaded from 129.170.195.144 on Tue, 17 Dec 2013 11:55:25 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions LEWIS: STRANGITE POLYGAMY and his intentions. Intellectual, dynamic, lust- ful, and obsessed with dreams of power and grandeur beyond reality, Strang created a marital institution and a political kingdom to serve his aims and desires. ESSE James Strang-or James Jesse Strang as he came to be known-was born on a farm near Scipio, New York, on March 21, 1813.3 A sickly youth with formal ex- ! meager education, Strang gained Wm2"^c perience as a farmer, teacher, postmaster, temperance lecturer, newspaper editor, and lawyer in the Chautauqua County area. In 1836, Strang met and married Mary Abigail Perce, the daughter of a Baptist minister. Af- ter seven years, he moved his family to Burlington, Wisconsin, where he was first in- fluenced by his wife's Mormon relatives. Trav- eling to Nauvoo, Illinois, in February, 1844, Strang received instruction and was baptized into the Church by its Prophet and Seer, Jo- seph Smith, Jr. Although he was commis- sioned to organize a branch of the Church in the Burlington area of Wisconsin, Strang re- turned home with ideas of his own. On June 27, 1844, the Prophet Joseph was assassinated by a mob in Carthage, Illinois. Without their Prophet, the church members (scattered throughout the East and England) found themselves without guidance or direc- but were soon reassured tion, they through WHi (X3) 8859 the actions of the Twelve Apostles of the Church under the able leadership of Brigham JamesJesse Strang about a year beforehis death. Young. Schism and factions within the Church soon appeared, the most persistent ing him Prophet and successor to Joseph and persuasive being led by James J. Strang. Smith.4 Tensions between the two rival fac- He claimed to have received divine revelation tions heightened as each hurled excommuni- on the day of Smith's murder and a letter from cations at the other. While a majority of Saints Smith written nine days before his death and upheld the legitimacy of the Brighamites, and to have discovered and translated ancient eventually moved to Utah after 1847, Strang brass plates near his Wisconsin home, all rec- attracted many of the disgruntled to his "Gar- ognizing him, appointing him, and annoint- den of Peace," Voree, in southeastern Wiscon- sin. Between 1845 and 1848 Voree srew rap- 3In the following background discussion I rely mainly on these general works: Milo Quaife, The Kingdom of Saint 4Chroniclesof Voree, 1845-1849, photostat in the State James (New Haven, Connecticut, 1930); Doyle C. Fitzpa- Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, pp. 1-31; Voree trick, The King Strang Story (Lansing, Michigan, 1970); (Wisconsin) Herald, January, 1846; James J. Strang, The Henry E. Legler, Moses of the Mormons(Milwaukee, 1897); Diamond:Being the Law of PropheticSuccession (Voree, Wis- Mark A. Strang, ed. and trans., The Diary ofJamesJ. Strang consin, 1848), chapters 2 and 3, pp. 3-7; Wingfield Wat- (Lansing, Michigan, 1961); Robert P. Weeks, King Strang son, ed., Revelations ofJamesJ. Strang (Spring Prairie, Wis- (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1971); Robert P. Weeks, "A Uto- consin, 18-?), 7-8; Joseph Smith, Jr., to J. Strang, June pian Kingdom in the American Grain," in the Wisconsin 18, 1844, in theJamesJ. Strang Papers, Beinecke Library, Magazine of History, 61:3-20 (Autumn, 1977). Yale University. 275 This content downloaded from 129.170.195.144 on Tue, 17 Dec 2013 11:55:25 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY SUMMER, 1983 WHi (W635) 21378 The cottagebuilt at Voreein 1844 byJames Jesse Strang as it appearedin 1933. idly as a community, and Strang as a mission- .by the spring of 1850, the community boasted ary and Prophet of God. His revelations con- between six and seven hundred people.6 At tinued to come as needed. On August 25, this time, Strang revealed his design for the 1846, Strang experienced a vision in which, "I Church. On July 8, 1850, at the conclusion of beheld a land amidst wide waters, and covered several days of conferences, a portion of the with large timber, with a deep, broad bay on newly translated Book of the Law of the Lord was one side of it." Strang was describing Big Bea- read, establishing the Kingdom of God on ver Island in northern Lake Michigan, a "vi- earth. James J. Strang the Prophet was sion" he may have seen in person that very crowned "King" by George J. Adams, a coun- summer on one of his frequent missionary selor and ex-theatrical performer, with a tours east. Beaver Island offered the room metal crown and all the pomp and ceremony and isolation necessary for the Saints to gather that could be mustered.7 in and for the fulfillment of Strang's "divine" From this point, Strang's plans unfolded mission.5 rapidly. The practice of polygamy was intro- Exploring the island in early 1847 with four duced; the doctrine of passive resistance to companions, Strang found the surroundings reoccurring Gentile depredations upon the is- ideal. There were acres of timber, rich soil, land Mormons was discontinued; and in No- a plentiful fishing grounds nearby, good bay Ancient and Modern Michilimackinac with access, and few Gentile inhabit- 6James J. Strang, easy ship (St. Ignace, Michigan, 1885), 25. ants. Settlement of Beaver Island and the city 7James J. Strang, Book of the Law of the Lord (St. James, of Saint James progressed slowly but steadily; Michigan, 1856), chapter 20, pp.