DID THE POLYGAMOUS MORMON MISSIONARIES FIND CONVERTS AMONG POLYAMOROUS HAWAIIANS?

Today the Mormons go by the name Latter Day Saints and their church is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

SUNSTONE MAGAZINE POLYGAMY AND THE EARLY MORMON HAWAII MISSION by John J. Hammond, who was a college professor.  (There's even an audio to listen to at this link!)

A very interesting article about the history of Mormon missionaries coming into Hawaii really.

Here's an EXCERPT:

Although Mormon Church leaders and many members had been secretly practicing polygamy since at least the early 1940's, Apostle Orson Pratt had made that practice public on 29 August 1852.  The news circulated the world in non-Mormon newspapers and created something of a sensation in the Sandwich Islands.

In a 16 March 1843 letter to Brigham Young, Hammond reported that the news about polygamy 'Does not create half the excitement which I had anticipated; the people appear as if some unseen hand had prepared them for it.  The (Hawaiian) government officers were not at all surprised at it but told us we would be narrowly watched, and if we were caught marrying two women to one man, they would be down heavy upon us; we told them that was not what we were sent out for, but to preach the gospel and to live in subjection to the (secular government) powers that be and to uphold them.

And Another:

In April 1854, Mormon Elder B.F. Johnson, who had been converted to polygamy by Joseph Smith (the founder of Mormonism) in the early 1840's, wrote an essay defending it against scathing attacks that were appearing in Honolulu newspapers.  When he could not find a newspaper that would publish it, he arranged to have it printed in San Francisco in the form of a twenty-six-page pamphlet, entitled WHY THE LATTER DAY SAINSR MARRY A PLURALITY OF WIVES; A GLANCE AT SCRIPTURE AND REASON. He distributed four hundred copies throughout the Islands, and was thrilled with the attention they received. "For many days," he wrote, "there was general excitement throughout the city (Honolulu) and had a thunderbolt fallen at the feet of our enemies, it would not have made a greater sensation."

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Did the Hawaiian's accept Mormon Christianity because they understood Polyamorous lifestyle?  This article suggests just the opposite. I consider that only allowing a man to have many wives, but not allowing women to have many husbands, might have irked some of the Hawaii women.

April 2014 is the month in which I featured SISTER WIVES (Modern Mormon Polygamous couples) so check that out in my archives if you're interested in the man-sharing lifestyle!