Polygamy in Mormondom, 19th Century

Polygamy in Mormondom

You may want to read the last post first, written last July, and work
upward. In its light, in the light of all of this, view the marriage of
16 year old Rhoda Leech Guymon,a pregnant orphan, a survivor of
the 1938 Missouri Civil War. She had lived much as the child Holocaust
Survivors did-sleepingin barns, scrimming from root cellars the for
two years to James Guymon, some years his senior.

This case should not be compared to modern Polygamy within Mormon
groups not associated with modern LDS, also called Mormon which beginning
shortly after the turn of the century,many then discontinued polygamy in order
to maintain their Statehood, which they had only recently gainedt hrough.
However this only referred to new marriages solumnized in a temple.
Rhoda was married a Cherokeewhose ancestors were LDS and had always
practiced polygamy. Since she wasnot required to reveal the father of her
child--she may have been raped orseduduced with food needed for
the survival of the other children, she reachedCouncil Bluffs with a
letter of commendation from the chuch, saying that she
was a virtuous married wife of James Guymon, one of
Brigham Young's Bodyguards/

They were never reqiured to divorce wives whom they had already
married. Since thelatest of these temple marriages were contracted in 1904,
a man married in this year could have been legally married to a younger wife
as late as late as the 60's.

86 Year old Joseph S. Jessop talks about the raids--

At 86, Joseph S. Jessop spent most of his life in the shadow of ruddy bluffs on the Arizona Strip, building the town’s irrigation system and surviving government invasions that were designed to stamp out polygamy. Now, as Texas authorities hold onto more than 400 children and consider bigamy charges against their parents, Jessop says he’s convinced another crackdown is coming to the Arizona-Utah border.

“I ain’t afraid of anything,” he allows. “But I know it’s happening again.
It’s happening down there, ain’t it? Nothing but religious persecution.
What else could be behind it?”

Despite the bravado, Jessop imparts little when asked about his family.
“I’m not going to tell you how many wives I’m married to,” he says.
What about the number of children? He smirks: “A bunch of ‘em.”

Jessop knows from experience that personal information can be damaging in a criminal court. He was serving in the U.S. Army during World War II when government agents rounded up his family in an anti-polygamy campaign in 1944. Nine years later, he was among the husbands incarcerated during a more famous raid on Short Creek (now known as Colorado City and Hildale).
…
Jessop recalls that private eyes were brought in from California to infiltrate his church. Posing as agents for a Hollywood film company,
the investigators offered to hire residents as extras for a movie, then gathered intelligence and family photos as they signed people up.
…
Asked what message he’d most like to get across to outsiders who view polygamy as odd or immoral, Jessop shrugs. “There’s no point in trying to explain it, ’cause they can’t understand it.”

He pauses a moment, then recites a quotation that he attributes to the founding prophet, Joseph Smith: “They condemn and accuse the righteous because they themselves are the servants of sin.”

Website Editors, Christian, Mormon Polygamy

There has been a great deal of arm twisting through the centuries. Mormons left the Intermountain West in the 1890's-1910 for Mexico. Pancho Villa supported the nuetrality of Mormons and their difference from otherGingos [Green-Go refered to the color of their Uniforms.].

The Mormons had emigrated to Mexico in order to become loyal Mexican
Citizens. They did not involve themselves in the War because they had so many ties to The United States, but they were nuetral. At the end of the war Pancho Villa could not guarantee Mormon safety from his troops who were breaking up into looting bands. Prophet Kimball, widely popular, and his wife Camilla
met on one of the train returning the saints from Mexico as young adults.

In Dad's War, Pa entered polygamy by marrying his first wife Agatha
in about 1870, The Edmond's Tucker Act was passed. Two years later.
This reqired an oath before men could vote or serve on a jury.
It disenfranchised women, and seized the assests of the Church.

Joseph S. Jessop was about ten years younger than Enoch
Snow in the third book of my novel Dad's War. Because Moe
and Rachel lived in a house above Orderville, they were not
involved in the raids Smith spoke of, or the one after the war.
Enoch moved to San Francisco just after the war to live with
his son and inlaws while his wife, a Sephardic Nurse, stayed
in India to help the victims of the riots that she knew would
come with partition. She and Enoch who was carrying their
son Eb on his shoulder became seperated from Rachel
while she backed out of the plane and ran down the gang
plank, happy that her family was safe.