Yes, but Smith also excommunicated a lot of apostles for teaching false doctrines.

Gaia, what is the difference between Spiritual Wifery and Polygamy?

Gaia-j wrote:

GAIA:

Mostly, the former was the UNapproved version, the latter was the "approved" version -- *g*

That is putting it simply, but truth be told, plural marriage was a calling, just like Sunday School teacher.  You didn't just decide to go out and get another wife.  And yes, some early apostles did decide that the "principle" was a good excuse to have extra marrital affairs.  They were soon excommunicated.  But having read how both Smith and Young took this responsibility, I believe it was so much more than that.  I truly believe it was a calling from God, and I also believe Emma knew about the calling from the start, but she was so mortified at the thought (even to her dying day) that she never publically acknowledged it.   Finally, I don't believe Fanny Alger had anything to do with any of it, and the rumors of her "affair" with Joseph were just that.  Rumors.  And recent DNA backs up that claim.

[QUOTE=bytebear;223838]
That is putting it simply, but truth be told, plural marriage was a calling, just like Sunday School teacher.  You didn't just decide to go out and get another wife.  And yes, some early apostles did decide that the "principle" was a good excuse to have extra marrital affairs.  They were soon excommunicated.  But having read how both Smith and Young took this responsibility, I believe it was so much more than that.  I truly believe it was a calling from God, and I also believe Emma knew about the calling from the start, but she was so mortified at the thought (even to her dying day) that she never publically acknowledged it.   Finally, I don't believe Fanny Alger had anything to do with any of it, and the rumors of her "affair" with Joseph were just that.  Rumors.  And recent DNA backs up that claim.
[/QUOTE]


GAIA:

I must respectfully disagree on two things:

It wasn't just "mortification" that troubled Emma -- From the historial record, it's clear that she was downright BETRAYED several times, by her own husband and by women she had befriended or young girls she had taken under her "wing".

Emma knew about the Principle itself,  and vascillated wildly;  one minute agreeing and even approving of some plural wives, the next minute, withdrawing her approval.

Joseph frequently HID his plural activities from her -- eveything from "courting" women to marrying them --  behind her back (or under her nose),  -- even going so far as to do so with women she thought of as her friends.  Emma would befriend a woman or take a young girl under her "wing" to help her, and the next thing she knew, her husband would be making "private arrangements" for  "private visits" with that girl or woman in the homes of his friends, or in a back room somewhere --

Such things would NOT sit well with the most liberal, trusting, and understanding of women. 


FAnny Alger is widely accepted by most historians as having been Jospeh Smith's first plural wife --
see http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/02-FannyAlger.htm