WIFE NUMBER NINETEEN ~

Can you imagine what it would be like to be someone's nineteenth wife?

Chauncey Webb and his parents were among Joseph Smith's earliest converts. They first heard Smith in upstate New York in 1833 shortly after he had translated produced the BOOK OF MORMON and presented himself as a new messiah [b] not a new messiah but one who would be an instrument in restoring the fullness of the Gospel from its apostate state who would restore true religion to the world. They followed Smith to Kirtland, Ohio, where Chauncey met and married Eliza Churchill, a Mormon girl of seventeen.

The Webbs next followed Smith to Nauvoo, Illinois, where they lived next door to Brigham Young and his family. In the summer of 1844 Joseph Smith was lynched by an anti-Mormon mob while in jail. You almost sound like you would've been there yourself martying a prophet of God given the chance? Following his death, Brigham Young became leader of the movement. It was during their time in Nauvoo that Chauncey and Eliza's daughter, Ann-Eliza, was born on September 13, 1844, and Chauncey added a second wife.

Two years later the Mormons, having worn out their welcome in Illinois, started west and in 1848 reached Salt Lake City. There at the age of eight Ann-Eliza was baptized as a bishop carried her to a pond and threw her into the water. What??? Threw her into the water? Unless it was fun and games - not how its done - what a crock Four years later her father began receiving proposals Not how it worked. Only those called to practice could practice polygamy. It was not taken lightly and it was instituted for the purposes at that time for survival. There were more women than men and in those days women needed taken care of. It wasn't like today. I'll touch on Polygamy more at the end from church dignitaries for her hand in marriage.

When Ann-Eliza turned seventeen, Brigham Young began to notice her. More and more she was aware of his staring at her, but that didn't stop her from falling in love with an Englishman named James Dee. When Ann-Eliza was eighteen, they were married. But all was not well, and within a month Ann-Eliza realized that the marriage had been a great mistake. Two years and two children later they were divorced.

Some time later at a Sunday service Ann-Eliza realized that Brigham Young was looking at her almost sensuously while he was preaching. After the service he walked her home and asked her parents for permission to marry her.

Ann-Eliza was shocked at the thought of marrying someone older than her father, yet she felt duty bound to yield to his wishes. On April 7, 1869, Ann-Eliza became the nineteenth wife of the head of the Mormon Church. He was sixty-eight; she, twenty-four. Young kept the wedding a secret, fearing the jealousy of his favorite wife. I suspect that much of this is conjecture and would appreciate knowing the source...not from us, no doubt. There are lots of lies out there about members and things that happened and even what we believe

After the wedding, Young returned Ann-Eliza to her parents for a while and then put her in a run-down little house of her own. She, like all but the favorite wife, lived poorly, receiving a monthly allowance of five pounds of sugar, some candles, a bar of soap, and a box of matches. She also received bread from a Mormon bakery and a supply of pork. I've been to Brigham Youngs Historical home. Not likely... He treated all his wives like queens and he was not a pervert as your story is trying to indicate. He was a man of God with a lot of responsibility. The "Favorite" wife would be, instead, the First Wife and they always knew and had say about the going's on. It was not in Brigham Young's character to do the things you are lying about.

After a year of marriage, Young decided that Ann-Eliza should live at "The Farm," which supplied his families with food. After three and a half years on the farm, Young moved her to Salt Lake City.

There Ann-Eliza met the pastor of the Methodist church. She began to spend time with him and his wife, and for the first time in her life she had the opportunity to observe a monogamous family. She found herself drawn to the world they represented. Ann-Eliza soon decided that her only hope of happiness was to leave Mormonism and divorce Brigham Young. She went to court and was granted a divorce in 1874 amidst much publicity and had to sneak out of Salt Lake City at night, fearing for her life. malarky

Once out of Utah she began lecturing against polygamy. A few weeks after her escape, Ann-Eliza was invited to the Methodist Female College of Delaware, Ohio. There the president carefully explained the gospel to her. It was like a new dawn breaking. Ann-Eliza left the darkness of her past and started a new life in the light of God's saving grace. nice?? story - but the darkness you speak of was not the case. Nowdays - the apostate churches which are not part of our church as they were excommunicated who practice polygamy ARE in darkness. I knew a couple and they were perverts.


~~~~~~~
REFLECTION/ If you are unsure of what to say when Mormon missionaries knock on your door, it's best not to let them in.

"If anyone tells you, "look, here is the Messiah," or "There he is," don't pay any attention. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect. Behold I have told you before." JESUS -- Matthew 24:23-25

Taken from: The One Year CHRISTIAN HISTORY
By: E. Michael and Sharon Rusten

Well, This is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We have the restored fullness of the gospel with the authority of the Priesthood which was lost when the original church died out and the apostasy took over which led to the dark ages. The only real blot would seem to be the issue of polygamy. It is an eternal principle and for a brief time, the Lord commanded Joseph Smith and other called leaders to take multiple wives to care for them. They will be sealed for time and all eternity to all of their wives in the next life. It is how it will be. The church was commanded at a certian point to stop the practice once they were safely in the Salt Lake valley and after they had established a strong base of an LDS population. Brigham Young has much "seed" - many relatives. Family is what the gospel plan is all about. And those in the highest degrees of glory will have continual increase. Women cannot have multiple husbands (Dang : ) but worthy men can. But this is in the eternities. Life will be much different in the Celestial Kingdom for we will be like God and won't be subject to the base human emotions (jealousy, inappropriate relations, etc.) because we will be in God's perfect presence. Anyway...people make this part of history out to be so ugly when it wasn't. And I suspect Sean might even LIKE the idea of someday having more than one wife