Introduction 35

Wives should put aside all desire for the exclusive and romantic company of their husbands. Rather, they should simply “receive, conceive, bear, and bring forth” in the name of Israel’s God. They should not be concerned with whether they were loved “a particle” by their companions. That was not what the principle was about.

When Helen wrote to Owen in November 1900, just two months before his marriage to Avery, that “we will not shrink from duty whatever it may cost for that in the end will bring true happiness in the Eternal World and that is what we are striving for” (Letter 13), she was referring to the founding principle of plural marriage: eternal salvation. Nevertheless, Helen’s conflicting feelings between polygamy and companionate marriage are demonstrated in another, earlier November 1900 letter to Owen:

How very selfish and mean it is for me to want you all for my own, and all your love and affection just for my own comfort and happiness, and still when I think of it, this is all I have been grieving and suffering in my feelings for. (Letter 9)

This excerpt shows Helen’s personal conflict with Owen’s impending marriage and her growing anxiety over losing her exclusive, companionate marriage. Post-Manifesto polygamy was conflicted at the personal level and at the general church level while being increasingly opposed at the national level. 

In December 1903, the Committee on Privileges and Elections laid out its plan: 1) they would attempt to prove Smoot a polygamist; 2) they would prove that Smoot had taken an oath against the State of Utah and the government of the United States (in the Mormon temple); 3) if 1 and 2 failed, they would show that such an oath would be administered by the LDS Church and that Smoot would comply; 4) if 1 through 3 failed, they would try to expel Smoot because Utah flagrantly violated its contract with the United Stated by permitting polygamy. The hearings began the following March with subpoenas sent out to Joseph F. Smith, M. W. Merrill, John W. Taylor, George Teasdale, Matthias F. Cowley, John Henry Smith, and Dr. J. M. Tanner. Apostles Merrill and Teasdale could not appear due to illness while apostles Taylor, Cowley, and Tanner simply disappeared. President Joseph F. Smith took the stand on March 2, 1904, and testified for three days regarding polygamy, church involvement in business and politics, and LDS doctrine and practice. Smith’s testimony angered many