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!

JANNEL BROWN ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POLYGAMOUS FAMILY AND A MAN HAVING A HAREM

"When people hear the word polygamy, their minds often jump to salacious conclusions.  For some reason, many intelligent Americans cannot differentiate between a healthy polygamous family and a man cheating on his wife - or even a harem!" 

(In the book the reader learns that wives do not discuss their sacred sex life with their common husband.  So they do not answer questions about sexuality with interviewers either.  The book focuses on the family, the children. - Missy)

Janelle Brown on page 228 of SISTER WIVES

JOE DARGER ON THE TABOO OF TALKING ABOUT SEX WITH ANOTHER OF HIS WIVES

"I consider my intimate relationships sacred and don't talk about them with anyone, which has left me feeling quite alone at times.  When a problem surfaces, it's not as though I can go talk to another wife about it.  That's really taboo for us.  Besides making sure each intimate relationship is 100 percent private between the two of us, I have learned not to make my time with each wife all about the sexual experience.  Otherwise, they assume that's my focus when I'm with the other wives, which only causes jealousy and competitiveness.  If my wives thought my interest in them was only sexual, it would be difficult for them to trust each other and respect me.  Having multiple relationships has reinforced for me that the intimacy a woman really craves involves being cherished and cared for, understood and valued."

Joe Darger pages 187-188

"Love Three Times" by Joe, Alina, Vicki, and Valerie Darger with Brook Adams which is copyright 2011 and published by HarperOne. 

CHRISTINE BROWN ON THE POSITIVES OF BEING A THIRD WIFE

"It's a common misconception - at least in my worldview - that it's best to enter a family as a first wife.  People often think, incorrectly that the first wife has the highest status and the most security. I never saw it this way.  In fact, in my opinion, being the first wife takes too much work and involves too much self sacrifice. You have to give up your life entirely and be joined at the hip to your husband.  It's just you and your husband until the day he married a second wife.  This kind of single-minded devotion never appealed to me - I'm independent and I like my freedom.

Being the second wife didn't seem like a better option either. In fact, I think that would have been worse than being the first wife. The second wife has the hardest job and is put in the most uncomfortable position, because she's the one who comes along and disrupts the marriage of the first wife and her husband. You can't blame her - it's not the second wife's fault.  It's just the nature of her role. She's the wedge that comes between the couple. And I was never going to put myself in that position...

But the third wife - she's the lucky one!  She's the one who comes along and makes peace between the first two wives.  The third wife is in a blessed position.  She doesn't have to face marriage on her own without the help from sister wives or bear the burden of breaking up a previously monogamous couple...

Christine Brown (Third wife of Kody Brown) speaking  on page 48 of SISTER WIVES

BECOMING SISTER WIVES and LOVE THREE TIMES : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

Before you pack up and move to UTAH, consider these things which I've learned from the two books.

To be in an Independent Fundamentalist Mormon Polygamous Marriage:

1) You must be a woman who wants to have as many children as God allows, meaning you probably won't be using contraception and you could mother more than ten children and will be sharing those children with your SISTER WIVES.  You may have those children at home with a midwife.  If you have two sister-wives you will probably sleep with your husband every three days.  If you have six sister-wives, you will probably sleep with him once a week.  These men seem up to it.  Having sister-wives is not keeping the population down.  The men are spreading their gene pool.

2) So you really must want and enjoy and be able to cope with lots and lots of children.  You must be a natural nurturer and a teacher, maybe even home schooling.  You must have or develop a lot of patience and understanding. 

3) You don't get your way much.  Expect a life of self sacrifice.  You'll be compromising a lot.  You'll be working on your jealousy and love for you wife-sisters, but there won't be any sex with anyone but your shared husband, and one at a time. You'll be subject not only to your shared husband but you sister-wives.  Some decisions will be made for you or are subject to not only family group decisions but reviews and permissions by committees, including the committees of church authorities.

4) Men such as husbands and fathers, as well as men church authorities, will decide if you are allowed to marry or allowed to leave (divorce) a husband.  You will be judged by their values.  There is no feminist movement here.

5) Financially, you may still have to work outside the home for pay to help support the family, but you may not be able to build a career which depends on staying put or transferring around the country.  If you husband moves the family, you go with.  You will probably have a work history/resume that is choppy.

6) Although you will have the support of your sister-wives when it comes to child care and finances, you will have near no societal support for your alternative arrangements and neither will your children outside  your own church/community.  Even some Latter Day Saint children will tease and discriminate in their friendships with your children.  You may have to live a secret or double life, live in rural areas far from main stream culture, or be subject to investigation by governmental authorities.

7) You must be religious in a Fundamentalist Mormon (not Latter Day Saints) way.  Without practicing the religion there is no point and it's only religion that makes this lifestyle respectable to a small percentage of the Western World.

The books are BECOMING SISTER WIVES The Story of an Unconventional Marriage by Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn Brown  C 2012  Kody Brown Entertainment LLC, published by Gallery Books and LOVE THREE TIMES  Our Story of a Polygamous Marriage by Joe, Alina, Vicki, and Valerie Darger with Brooke Adams and is C 2011 by all those authors. The publisher is HarperOne.

KODY BROWN ON A WOMEN APPROACHING THE FAMILY SHE WANTS TO BE POLYGAMOUS WITH

"Quite often in our faith, it's the woman who approaches the family she is interest in.  I think people are surprised by how often the woman makes the opening move.  If a woman finds a family to which she feels spiritually connected, typically she builds a relationship with the first wife or wives, then she will tell her father, who then speaks to the father of the husband in the family..."    Kody Brown - The husband in a Polygamous marriage.

Page 42 of the book SISTER WIVES

JANNEL BROWN ON THE PITFALL OF COMPARING RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER WIVES

"One of the things I had to work on once I moved into the big house with my sister wives was not falling into the pitfall of comparing my relationship with Kody to theirs.  Comparison is the death of plural marriage.   It leads to debilitating unhappiness."  - Jannel Brown

Page 30 of  BECOMING SISTER WIVES The Story of an Unconventional Marriage by Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn Brown  C 2012  Kody Brown Entertainment LLC