So, modern revelation is needed when Joseph Smith got caught doing the nasty in the barn with 15 year-old servant-girl Fanny Alger (prior to any “sealing” or marriage btw). Oh, I see now.
I’ll bet you don’t know about that incident, do you?
** Why me: As we can see from this account found on an antimormon website that the said mentioned ‘nasty affair’ was all heresay. **
In 1835, Emma took in their home nineteen-year-old Fanny Alger. Benjamin F. Johnson stated that Joseph loved her (Fanny) and that they were spied upon and found together. Miss Alger was the first confirmed wife of Joseph Smith. It was reported that the sealing took place in a barn on the hay mow and was secretly witnessed by Emma peeking through the door.
In an 1872 letter, McLellin gave other details about this incident. He said that Emma found both Joseph and Fanny missing one night and went to go look for them. She “saw him and Fanny in the barn together alone. She looked through the crack and saw the transaction.” (Letter from William E. McLellin to Joseph Smith III, dated July 1872).
The “hearsay” of more than one person…what would that be called? Corroborated testimony?
“Joseph kept his marriage to Fanny out of the view of the public, and his wife Emma. Chauncey Webb recounts Emma’s later discovery of the relationship:
“Emma was furious, and drove the girl, who was unable to conceal the consequences of her celestial relation with the prophet, out of her house”. Ann Eliza again recalls:
“…it was felt that [Emma] certainly must have had some very good reason for her action. By degrees it became whispered about that Joseph’s love for his adopted daughter was by no means a paternal affection, and his wife, discovering the fact, at once took measures to place the girl beyond his reach…Since Emma refused decidedly to allow her to remain in her house…my mother offered to take her until she could be sent to her relatives…”
Book of Mormon witness, Oliver Cowdery, felt the relationship was something other than a marriage. He referred to it as
“A dirty, nasty, filthy affair…” To calm rumors regarding Fanny’s relationship with Joseph, the church quickly adopted a
“Chapter of Rules for Marriage among the Saints”, which declared,
“Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with…polygamy; we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife…” This
“Article on Marriage” was canonized and published in the Doctrine & Covenants. In 1852, the doctrine of polygamy was publicly announced, thus ending eighteen years of secret practice.
“The Article on Marriage” became obsolete and was later removed.” (
The Wives of Joseph Smith)
