Mormon founder Joseph Smith had 40 wives, church acknowledges
Church leaders acknowledge prophet Joseph Smith's prolific polygamy for first time, signalling new openness for an often-secretive religion
Mormon church founder and prophet Joseph Smith took as many as 40 wives, at least one as young as 14, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have acknowledged for the first time.
The confirmation of Smith's polygamy is made in a series of essays posted as guides for the Mormon faithful.
Multiple marriage was one of the church's public attributes in its early days. It formally abandoned polygamy in 1890, but the practice continues to be a cultural identifier in film, television and theatre.
The acknowledgment is significant because it signals an openness on the part of the religion, which has been wrapped in secrecy and whose practices involving women and minorities have raised questions among some of its own adherents.
In that sense, Mormons are following in the footsteps of other Christian religions seeking to address once-taboo issues, such as sexuality or same-sex marriage.
Born in New York state in the 1820s, nurtured in its early combative days in the Midwest, the Mormon religion went west. Adherents settled in Utah, which is still the religion's spiritual centre.
In an essay posted on the church's website, Mormons seek to explain the origin of polygamy in its early days in Ohio and Illinois. Polygamy is difficult to understand, says the essay, titled "Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo".
"Many details about the early practice of plural marriage are unknown. Plural marriage was introduced among the early Saints incrementally, and participants were asked to keep their actions confidential," it says.
"They did not discuss their experiences publicly or in writing until after the Latter-day Saints had moved to Utah and church leaders had publicly acknowledged the practice."
The roots of polygamy date to Smith's study of the Old Testament in 1831. Major biblical figures - including Abraham, David and Solomon - had more than one wife.
"The same revelation that taught of plural marriage was part of a larger revelation given to Joseph Smith," the essay notes. "Marriage could last beyond death and that eternal marriage was essential to inheriting the fullness that God desires for his children."
Smith had 30 to 40 wives, it says. The women ranged in age from 14 to 56, though most were between 20 and 40. Some were already wives to Smith's friends.
The prophet probably did not have sexual relations with all of the women because some were "sealed" to him just for the expected afterlife in heaven. The essay notes, however that polygamy was "an excruciating ordeal" for Smith's first wife, Emma.
The official news of Smith's marriages didn't surprise many Mormons. On Feminist Mormon Housewives, an online blog, some said it had been expected.
One wrote: "I'm a tween-aged Mormon girl in a Southern town. I have always known Joseph Smith and early church members practised polygamy. I get asked how many moms I have all the time; how could I not know?"
The church officially abandoned polygamy in 1890 under pressure from the US government, but the practice continued for some years. Those Mormons who refused to renounce polygamy eventually broke off to form splinter churches.
One of the most notorious cases involved Tom Green, who was convicted of bigamy in 2001, then of child rape in 2002. His seven wives included a 13-year-old girl, and he had 35 children. He was paroled in 2007.
In 2011, Warren Jeffs, the leader of one schismatic group, was convicted in Texas of sexually assaulting a child bride. He is serving a life sentence.
