Posted on 07/18/2011 1:18:03 PM PDT by Colofornian
Last Friday I went to the LDS Church sanctioned Joseph Smith web site. The site has a section titled “On This Day…,” reporting daily events from the life of Joseph Smith. On Friday it said,
March 24, 1832
Hiram, Ohio. A mob violently tarred and feathered Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon.
This is interesting to me because on my web site, Questioning Mormonism, I have a similar feature that lists daily events in the history of the LDS Church. And for March 24th both the Joseph Smith site and the Questioning Mormonism site list the same bit of history. But the QM site has a little more detail:
“1832 – Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were tarred and feathered by a mob in Ohio due to rumors of Smith’s intimacy with Nancy Marinda Johnson. Nancy’s brother, Eli, was said to have led the mob.”
Interesting how a few additional facts can change the whole tenor of a historic event. Here’s the more complete story.
On September 2, 1831 Joseph and Emma Smith, along with their 5 month old twins, moved into the John Johnson home in Hiram, Ohio. The Johnson’s had four grown sons and a 16-year-old daughter, Nancy Marinda. LDS author Fawn Brodie wrote,
“Fortified by a barrel of whiskey, [the mob] smashed their way into the Johnson home on the night of March 24, 1832 and dragged Joseph from the trundle bed where he had fallen asleep while watching one of the twins. They stripped him, scratched and beat him with savage pleasure, and smeared his bleeding body with tar from head to foot. Ripping a pillow into shreds, they plastered him with feathers. It is said that Eli Johnson demanded that the prophet be castrated, for he suspected Joseph of being too intimate with his sister, Nancy Marinda. But the doctor who had been persuaded to join the mob declined the responsibility at the last moment…” (No Man Knows My History, page119).
Joseph survived the ordeal with injuries that healed over time. But one of Joseph and Emma’s twins, who had been suffering from measles and was that night exposed to cold, damp air, died five days later. LDS author Todd Compton wrote,
“The motivation for this mobbing has been debated. Clark Braden…alleged…that Marinda’s brother Eli led a mob against Smith because the prophet had been too intimate with Marinda. This tradition suggests that Smith may have married Marinda at this early time, and some circumstantial factors support such a possibility. The castration attempt might be taken as evidence that the mob felt that Joseph had committed a sexual impropriety; since the attempt is reported by [Marinda's brother who became LDS apostle] Luke Johnson, there is no good reason to doubt it. Also, they had planned the operation in advance, as they brought along a doctor to perform it. The first revelations had been received in 1831, by historian Danel Bachman’s dating. Also, Joseph did tend to marry women who had stayed at his house or in whose house he had stayed” (In Sacred Loneliness, page 231).
Thinking that the circumstantial evidence may be lacking in some respects, Mr. Compton suggested the possibility of a different motivation for the mobbing, one of an economic nature rather than a sexual nature. Whatever provided the impetus for the tarring and feathering of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon that night in 1832, the event didn’t happen in a vacuum.
A postscript to the Joseph and Nancy allegations: In 1834 Nancy married LDS Church member Orson Hyde. Six years later, in the spring of 1840, Church authorities sent Orson on a three-year mission to Jerusalem. Two years into the mission, while he was away, Joseph Smith was sealed to Orson Hyde’s wife, Nancy Marinda. Nancy thus became Joseph’s 10th plural wife, though she remained married to Orson as well. In 1870 Nancy divorced Orson after 34 years of marriage, leaving him to his five remaining plural wives.
Smith was indeed tarred and feathered, yet their mentions always lack a context.
From the article: ...It is said that Eli Johnson demanded that the prophet be castrated, for he suspected Joseph of being too intimate with his sister, Nancy Marinda...The castration attempt might be taken as evidence that the mob felt that Joseph had committed a sexual impropriety; since the attempt is reported by [Marinda's brother who became LDS apostle] Luke Johnson, there is no good reason to doubt it.
Nancy Marinda was 16 years old.
Oh, and for the "capper," be sure to read the "Postscript" graph @ the end of the article!
Garmies protect from tarrage and featheration.
These fellas were gluttons for punishment! Didn't they ever learn?
Polygamy gets worse...even for Mormons who marry serially (one at a time) these days.
Why?
'Cause for Mormons, marriage is FOREVER...as in never-ending!
Multiple eternal wives! Multiple competitions & rivalries! Multiple experiences of wives constantly "comparing" their experiences with their hubby -- vs. their "sister wives'" experiences with their hubby.
Fun, fun, fun, on the Mormon Kolobian polygamous autobahn!
What’s your agenda?
- Mitt
In before the ANTI-CHRISTIANS!
“while he was away, Joseph Smith was sealed to Orson Hyde’s wife, Nancy Marinda. Nancy thus became Joseph’s 10th plural wife, though she remained married to Orson as well”
HORNDOG PROPHET ALERT!
Single issue poster alert!!!
Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were tarred and feathered
Joseph no question. According to contemporary Mormon accounts (most recorded in diaries), When Joseph appeared in church the next day, he was missing large clumps of hair, his skin was red and raw from scrubbing, and the right side of his head was blistered (from acid in the tar, not from heat). Sidney, on the other hand, looked no worse for wear and preached a sermon as though nothing had happened.
It is said that Eli Johnson demanded that the prophet be castrated, for he suspected Joseph of being too intimate with his sister, Nancy Marinda. But the doctor who had been persuaded to join the mob declined the responsibility at the last moment.
Other accounts insist that Joseph had been caught in the doing the deed in a haystack with Nancy. Many accounts also state that the barber surgeon was drunk (as were several members of the Mormon mob) to the point where they were afraid Joseph would be killed by the surgery. One can only imagine how different Mormonism would be today if Joseph were cut close and square, to use a term commonly used by the Danites.
Joseph survived the ordeal with injuries that healed over time.
Joseph would carry the scars on the side of his head from the acid in the tar for the rest of his life.
Tradition suggests that Smith may have married Marinda at this early time.
Married is the Mormon justification for adultery in general, and statutory rape in particular. In fact, it was about this time that Joseph and Sidney were writing down the words of D&C Sec. 51 (I think that's the one) prohibiting plural marriages.
A postscript to the Joseph and Nancy allegations ...
Another postscript: About a year later, Fanny Alger, a 16-year old orphan living with the Smith family, who was employed as a nanny and domestic servant, turned up pregnant with Joseph's baby. This time, Joseph was forced to marry the young lady until he could palm her off on another Saint. Fanny is widely regarded as the first of more than 30 concubines wedded to Joseph.
Single Issue poster.... and what is your point exactly ?
Tar and feather placemarker
It’s an important issue.
Many are tarred; but few are feathered.
(Joseph Smith Translation of Matthew 22:14)
Many are cold; but few are frozen.
MORMON reasoning to disobey their GOD about eating MEAT in the summer and times of plenty.
He likes to see his name in print.
Typical kneejerk response alert from someone who should just stay away if it offends him alert!
I don’t get it, why do some of us get the third degree insisting that what one believes does matter, that it influences who we vote for. This adulterous Joe Smith (without even mentioning all the extreme bizarre doctrines he foisted upon his followers) is Romney’s prophet, for heaven’s sake! Romney’s hero.
And this is running for president? MY president? How on earth can someone so stupid as to be a devout disciple of Smith be trusted to run the country?
What if he were a Scientologist? A snake handler? Someone into witchcraft? An Atheist? A Muslim? Why does Romney get a pass when O’Donnell of Delaware didn’t? with her brief dabbling into witchcraft as a immature youth?
Same with Michelle Bachmann and her association with a Wisconsin Lutheran group that believes the Pope is antichrist. She’s being cross-examined for it - for something once commonly believed in Protestantism, her Wisconsin Lutherans happening to be traditional enough to still follow Luther - and Romney gets a pass? Not in my book he doesn’t.
Hummm....lot's of possibilities there.
Good post!
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