Title The polygamous wives writing club : from the diaries of Mormon pioneer women / Paula Kelly Harline

Published New York : Oxford University Press, 2014

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Description 1 online resource (viii, 244 pages) : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) Contents Welcome -- Settling Utah Territory: Polygamous yet monogamous. I was perfectly willing ... but still it was hard -- I had admired his conduct on the plains -- Interlude: Justifying polygamy -- It is a heart history -- Making sense of sisterhood: Relations between wives. The drudge and tail of such women -- Interlude: Sometimes sisterhood -- Many nights my pillow would be wet with grief -- I could not say that I loved the man as lovers love -- Abandoning polygamy: Weariness. Word came the marshalls were coming, so I skipped out -- Interlude: The 1890 Manifesto -- I grew rebellious -- I heard a voice say you are away from Mr Chestnut -- Farewell Summary Harline analyses the personal writings (autobiographies and diaries) of 29 obscure Mormon pioneer women who became polygamous wives between 1847 and 1890 in Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. Disillusioned with the polygamous system, for the most part the wives studied here did not mention or mourn the 1890 Manifesto that phased out polygamy in the Mormon Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints renounced the practice of plural marriage in 1890. In the mid- to late nineteenth century, however -- the heyday of Mormon polygamy -- as many as three out of every ten Mormon women became polygamous wives. Paula Kelly Harline delves deep into the diaries and autobiographies of twenty-nine such women, providing a rare window into the lives they led and revealing their views and experiences of polygamy, including their well-founded belief that their domestic contributions would help to build a foundation for generations of future Mormons. Polygamous wives were participants in a controversial and very public religious practice that violated most nineteenth-century social and religious rules of a monogamous America. Harline considers the questions: Were these women content with their sacrifice? Did the benefits of polygamous marriage for the Mormons outweigh the human toll it required and the embarrassment it continues to bring? Polygamous wives faced daunting challenges not only imposed by the wider society but within the home, yet those whose writings Harline explores give voice to far more than unhappiness and discontent. The personal writings of these women, all married to different husbands, are the heart of this book -- they paint a vivid and sometimes disturbing picture of an all but vanished and still controversial way of life Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Polygamy -- Religious aspects -- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- History -- 19th century Polygamy -- Religious aspects -- Latter Day Saint churches -- History -- 19th century Polygamy -- Psychological aspects Latter Day Saint women -- Religious life Latter Day Saint women -- Social conditions Polygamy -- Religious aspects -- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Latter Day Saint women -- Religious life Polygamy -- Religious aspects -- Latter Day Saint churches Religion. Philosophy & Religion. Christianity. Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780199346561 0199346569

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