Ann Eliza Webb Dee Young Denning was married for a time to Brigham Young. After a tumultuous experience with Mormonism, she left the territory and wrote an expose titled, “Wife No. 19, or The Story of a Life in Bondage,” about her experiences. Join Lindsay and Bryan Buchanan as they discuss the expose and Ann’s life.
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Hi Lindsey! Fantastic episode. I am a descendent of the Stenhouse’s (TBH and his plural wife) and would LOVE to hear the next podcast on them!! I am so grateful for what you said in your opening of this podcast- that some of these expose tell-all type books are are valuable parts of history after being dismissed for years. Thank you for saying that. .
I just finished reading this book and thought it was an honest peek inside that world from the viewpoint of someone who grew up in polygamy, lived it and left it. It’s beautifully written, I could feel the agony/ pain that the practice caused and the entire book was very eye opening to the church leaders attitudes towards women and how polygamy controlled and destroyed both men and women. It’s frustrating that her book has been dismissed as unreliable by church apologists but I can see why. After reading it, any other narrative that’s supported by the church regarding polygamy seems misleading and dishonest.
There were more reasons other Mormons new about Mountain Meadows Massacre was because of the children who were not killed and brought into the community that were deemed too young for them to murder and justify it, the government had to come in later and take these kids back to relatives. Also they took items from the wagon train immigrants to the tithe houses. It was a wealthy group of immigrants so all of the sudden they have new carriages, animals, clothing, etc.