It's not easy doing genealogy work on a polygamist family

[stoney321]

I'm going through my family's records (and I can't tell you how freaking thrilling it is to find old journal entries from my g-g-g-grandfather detailing his immigration to the US and then his emigration to Utah - JOURNALS ARE NEAT-O) and just found a very interesting and no doubt intentional series of blanks in the 1870 and 1880 Census records.

No wife listed officially, even though his first wife had been dutifully recorded (Emma, age --, born in England, keeping house) for the two censuses prior.

Then, the 1890 census show Emma again, but then there's this lady (Martha, 55) that turns up. And the next census (these are official census records, btw) have Emma missing. She's not dead at this time. This is also the period when Thomas went to jail for being a polygamist. They paid $100 to get him out, and he wrote that he served his time for The Lord. but when Utah was trying to pretend they weren't polygamous anymore (1890s) both wives are back on the census. (I need to borrow my dad's church ID # so I can check all of the SOOPER SEKRIT temple records for the evidence I need to show the polygamous marriage records, though.)

IDK, I just think it's interesting. I do love Emma's final dig at the situation in death, though.



Oh, you thought he would be in the middle, Martha? Oh, HALE nah. He done dragged my ass over from England and made me walk all the way from St. Louis to a hill in Utah valley, where we then had to turn around and build a house.

Missing from all of these records is his third living wife, and I only have journal entries for her. There were 9 other women married to him during the 1860s, making 12 spirit wives, total. Fun facts!

And fellow ExMos (or Mos) will get a kick out of this: I found his temple record of getting his "Second Calling." Meaning, no matter what, he gets his own planet. My religion passed out WORLDS, what did yours pass out, Watchtowers and WWJD bracelets? PFFT.

Comments

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

I snicker hard at the headstone. But then I also make up possibilities which please me more, like "You thought you'd be in the middle, Thomas? Oh HALE nah. What exactly do you think Martha and I were up to while you were out cruising for wife #3?"

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

=P

Also, I've seen their pictures. I don't think anyone was looking with sexy side eye at anyone by the time ol' Martha came on board.

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

Stoney, you're seriously harshing my attempts to write RPS about your grandparents. Cut that shit out. :-(

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHAHAHA.

[dancetomato.livejournal.com]

Mine passes out wine, so I win.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

DT, uh, ENTIRE PLANET = vineyard planet. Also, I'm going to be the first one to start off with Adam and Steve because I can.

Your icon is genius.

[dancetomato.livejournal.com]

Judging from the state of this planet, planets not all they are cracked up to be. It's like a boat. Your own boat = too much work. Borrowing a friend's boat = good timez.

[lynnenne]

Hahahahaha. Catholics know how to party!

[medland.livejournal.com]

Your icon is a thing of glory and win.

[mumsisdaughter]

Family histories are fascinating. I've become addicted to researching all the branches of my own but have reached the sticking point of the late 18th century atm. No juicy titbits like polygamy but there were quite a few marriages in the preceding quarter to the birth of the first child (so the 20th century didn't invent sex, after all :D ).

Splendid headstone. How many children did he have by all those women? And how did he afford to keep them all? Did they all live in one house? Was there a shortage of men back then? The questions are endless :)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... there were 9 (7 survived) with Wife One and I think four (two survived) with #2, no children with other wives.

FARMING. Cheap labor, they grow what they eat, and yep, one house. Oh, there was no shortage of men, even though that was an early hand-wave excuse for polygamy.

[mumsisdaughter]

My 20th century brain says 'so he had wimmen instead of slaves, hey?' but I realise that won't be the whole story and is insulting so I apologise. My question, which you may or not be able to answer, is this, ' Was it the accepted practice to take on women who had no man eg widows, deserted wives, the 'unlucky' spinster?' In other words, did these men see it as their duty to look after spare women?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oh, you don't have to worry about offending me, tchuh!

And that's a really complicated answer, but mostly it boils down to a few of the muckity mucks got to practice it (not everyone did) and the more you had, the more awesome you were. So it wasn't anything altruistic. Unattached (or non-Mormon married) women were snatched up, period.

[bienegold.livejournal.com]

I love genealogy, but the branches of my family that aren't already exhaustively researched are impossible to track down. It's just not even worth attempting to track down the Irish side, because there are just too many people with the same name. (Or my Swedish great-grandmother. Finding the correct Anna Larson isn't going to happen.)

[mumsisdaughter]

I know exactly what you mean: my great great grandfather was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland and went by the name of Thomas Gray. Once I began searching, I realised there was no chance of finding him. There must have been 30 boys born in the same year and given the same name! Frustrating, isn't it?

[kriscat.livejournal.com]

When was your great grandmother born? And do you know where in sweden she was from? Sweden have a lot of records. The state church keept us under a lot of surveillance. ;)

[darkhawkhealer.livejournal.com]

Wait, didn't Emma die first? So Thomas or Martha must have set that up, right?

Shoot, maybe Martha didn't want to be next to Thomas' demanding ass for all of eternity! :P

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Emma did die first, but it was pretty common to have the family plot laid out with who goes where. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that one of her kids put the final tombstone there after all three were gone. :)

[oaktree89.livejournal.com]

Well, my religion has an entire holiday where we're commanded to get plastered, so :P

Also, Emma was a total BAMF.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

My planet is going to have five different religions and they'll all require sex, booze, pinatas (they're just fun) nachos and awesome music at every holiday.

World building is fun!

[oaktree89.livejournal.com]

Can I visit your planet? Because, yes.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

AND WE'LL HAVE TELEPORTERS AND RIVERS OF CHEESE.

[oaktree89.livejournal.com]

oh god yes

[anelith.livejournal.com]

Ha! That is fascinating. Where are the other wives buried? Did they get the Featherstone last name on their gravestones?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I can't find wife #3 and the other nine were already dead when they were married to him (like Baptisms for the Dead.)

[timba.livejournal.com]

Wait...there is marriage of dead people? What does that serve? Like, I mean, I get the Baptism thing, but why marriage?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Yep. Well, you can't get into the Highest Kingdom of Heaven (there are levels, you see) if you're not married. So they baptize, endow, and marry people after they're dead.

Like Eva Braun and Hitler. (No, really.)

[timba.livejournal.com]

Oh, I gotcha. So it's more a continuation of Baptism of the Dead than a whole 'nother thing.

Dude, Mormonism is FASCINATING.

Occasionally, I find myself wondering what happens in The Afterlife, if like, a Anglican gets baptized as a Mormon after death...does God get all cranky? "Make up your mind!"
Do you get moved from Anglican heaven and put onto your planet? What if Anglicans are right, and then they get put in Hell or whatever for "changing" religions. How does that work?

Have I thought too much about this? Probably.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

LOL!

[bailunrui.livejournal.com]

Martha outlasted them all. Question: what do spirit wives do when the guy dies?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Wait it out? Once they're dead, the husband welcomes them into his spiritual harem.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

That's like, all we do, apparently.

This is all for my hopefully one-day-published book, so it'll be in there!

[gottriplets.livejournal.com]

My planet will contain nothing but Klaine...and they will do my bidding. DO MY BIDDING, I SAY!!! (it'll kinda be a porn planet!)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I have teleporters and booze on my planet, so let's hook up a worm hole and PAR-TAY!

[oatmellow.livejournal.com]

So can we visit your gx4 grandfather's planet someday? Cuz I totally wanna.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

It's gonna be an eternal party, no doubt.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Woah. I've never seen the gravestone for a polygamous marriage. Are there headstones that commemorate five, six, seven wives? I also didn't know about the doling out of planets. How many do the Mormons believe exist?

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I've seen a few with multiple names, but more often you'll see a big monument with everyone buried around it, typically in order.

Oh, infinite # of planets! All of the Uber righteous get to have their own planet and be God, and have your own Jesus and world wars and volcanoes, or whatever you make it.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT CRAP.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Also, did you know the original Battlestar Galactica is based on Mormon doctrine? God? As in the CHristian God of Earth, lives on a planet called Kolob. In the show, it's Kobol. 12 tribes, 12 planets, etc.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

I did know that BSG was based on Mormon doctrine, but I'd forgotten and Kolob being switched up to be the much sexier sounding Kobol makes me happy.

And yes I can believe that crap because it is insane! Religion is wacky. Your ex-religion is just wackier than most.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I have spent the past half hour tweaking a chapter that deals with some ancient Hebrew from Shinar that hot footed it over to Asia, built wooden submarines with cork-stoppered holes on two sides and glow in the dark rocks, making sure that I have all of the footnotes correct BECAUSE WHO WOULD BELIEVE THIS SHIT.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Now we're getting to the batshit insane.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Not even close. :D

I just... how did I go along with this? Oh, right, they try to hide this stuff. Well, consider me the flipper of rocks, so squirm in the light, bugs!

[cdvla313.livejournal.com]

I am so. excited. for your book. I just wanted to tell you that.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I'm not even going to pretend that getting to see BoM isn't lighting a fire under me. :D

[redbrickrose.livejournal.com]

That really is super interesting. I don't think I'd have expected to see all three names on the headstone like that! But I don't know what I would have expected.