The age of 16 doesn’t bother me, as long as the young lady was willing. Today a 16 year old can marry if she is an emancipated minor or if her parents give permission. Presumably, a minor’s parents can discern whether she is mature enough to be married or is being coerced in some way.
Her position as an orphan in the home, with Smith her supposed father, would make me disallow the marriage if I were a judge or whatever.
The lengths Smith went to legitimize his lusts were extraordinary.
It would be difficult to convince me that you are “in this world but not of this world” when your primary objective seems to be nailing anything in a skirt.
As Dillinger remarked “That which is not nailed down is mine, that which I can pry up is not nailed down.”
And I just happened to post an excerpt thread of that here: Alger History and Ancestry: Fanny W. Alger 1817-1879 [Mormon - Open]
And guess what "revelation" occurs there? Well, apparently before Fanny Alger married again at age 19 by a Custer fella, Brigham Young (otherwise known as "Bring 'em Young") trotted out to Mayfield, OH, where Fanny was then staying with relatives...by this time she was 18 or 19...and Brigham "proposed"...(of course, exactly what Brigham was "proposin" that she agree to is open to debate)
I mean, Brigham officially proposing marriage...e'en tho...
...Brigham was already married?...
...& the "official" doctrine of polygamy was still yet to be publicly announced for another 16-17 years?...
...& she was likely still officially (in the eyes of the church) already married to Joseph?...
...& Brigham wasn't carrying on an ongoing courting relationship with her [I mean, what? He just shows up from out of town at her door, and says, "Ya wanna get secretly 'married' to me, too, wink-wink, nod-nod?"]
I think we get the "moral" picture of what was going on amongst these men.