Join Lindsay as she interviews former LDS Church archivist and former State of Utah archivist Jeffery Johnson about the women married to Brigham Young.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Defining ‘Wife’: The Brigham Young Households,” by Jeffrey Johnson
- A Mysterious Image Brigham Young With an Unknown Wife,” by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Robert F.E. Schwartz
- List of Brigham Young’s Wives
- A Photo of Sally Kanosh
- A Photo of Susannah Snively
- A Photo of Naamah Kendall Jenkins Twiss Young
- The Sad Story of Sally, Native American Daughter of Brigham Young
- The Persistence of Polygamy: From Joseph Smith’s Martyrdom to the First Manifesto, 1844-1890
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
I served as a missionary in the Beehive house over 10 years ago. I remember clearly that we talked about polygamy as part of the introduction to the tour. the points used where about only a small percent of the population practicing it, the woman agreed to it and it filled the need of there being too many widows that required looking after. It is a shame we didn’t get to tell the stories about these woman and I honestly feel like the truth is so much different than what we were told.
We often got questions about polygamy an answered them openly. Is it possible that different mission presidents have given different instructions the the missionaries as the came along? I don’t know who gets to decide these sorts of things but be assured, the topic of polygamy was not something we ignored or were afraid of. I am sad to hear that it has changed now.
Martha was locked in a room for 10 minutes. Not “for days” as claimed by Jeffery Johnson. I think he said “days” to make the affidavit sound not credible.
I listened to this yesterday and the thing that won’t leave me is the modern historian rejecting the intense female experience of jealousy. Soothing it over, saying she knew her husband had other wives and therefore this feeling was unreasonable… Kind of struck me that this is the type of voice through which we’ve learned about our history. If it doesn’t make sense to a male, it must not be true and must therefore be ignored or erased.
I truly respect that he has dedicated his life to learning our history, but he seems to have a need to interpret it according to the properly accepted church view, to make it fit the story as it “should” be, where only good feelings abound.
I completely agree with Shannon. I’ve listened to every episode before this. I’ve never been more frustrated at the complete dismissal of the women experiencing jealousy. This shows a complete lack of knowledge of the female experience.
And this may seem silly, but I have watched the show “Sister Wives”, and those women completely support the practice of polygamy, and seem to be wonderful, caring, thoughtful women who do their very best to support their husband and each other, but there is still plenty of jealousy.
This was just really frustrating to listen to.
I feel the same way. I felt that the historian was great, but he seemed almost sympathetic for the male view of polygamy. I know, as any woman would, there was jealousy.
Agreed! It’s a terribly privileged opinion to hold.
I’m so glad that there are more people on here that were hearing the very male sympathizing voice of this historian.
He dismissed the Dairy Farm by saying that the woman who said that it was a bad place to be were just women who thought that they would be pampered by marrying Brigham Young and were made because they still had to cook and clean. Disgusting.
And his theory that Amelia Folsom wasn’t the favorite because she didn’t have any children? Or the last child? Yummmmm…..a man can REALLY love and care about his wife and not have 10 children with her.
This episode reminds me of how TIRED I am of hearing the stories of women from the point of view of men who have lived comfortable lives in a extremely patriarchal system.
I don’t think polygamy can ever be fairly and honestly evaluated by a man who lives within and enjoys the patriarchal system. This historian was not very credible to me.
of course like your web-site but you have to test the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling issues and I in finding it very troublesome to tell the reality however I will surely come back again.
I likewise think thus, perfectly written post! .
I just couldn’t depart your website before suggesting that I actually enjoyed the standard information a person provide for your visitors? Is going to be back often in order to check up on new posts
This design is steller! You definitely know how to keep a reader
amused. Between your wit and your videos, I
was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Wonderful job.
I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it.
Too cool!
Thanks for sharing such a nice idea, post is nice, thats why i have read it fully
I am regular visitor, how are you everybody? This post posted at this
site is in fact nice.
Hey! I know this is kind of off-topic however I had to ask.
Does managing a well-established website such as yours take a massive amount work?
I’m brand new to writing a blog however I do write in my diary everyday.
I’d like to start a blog so I can share my experience and feelings online.
Please let me know if you have any kind of suggestions or tips for brand new aspiring blog owners.
Thankyou!
I know I’m listening years after this was recorded, but my goodness; I couldn’t resist commenting. This “historian” brushing off the valid feelings of the women he studied shows a blatant bias that is very difficult to listen to. “She would not have felt that way.” Really?? He loses all credibility to me when he callously dismisses any jealousy or feelings of being slighted these women experienced. By irrationally defending Brigham Young and ignoring his absolutely patriarchal cruelty to these women makes it impossible for me to trust any of the opinions he delivers as facts.
Jeffrey Johnson takes “Lying for the Lord” to a new level.