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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Latter-day Saint Polygamy Research

The usage of "Mormon" and "LDS" on this page is approved according to current policy.

Online Resources

• 1850-1902 - Interior Department territorial papers, Utah, 1850-1902
• 1870-1896 - Utah, Territorial Case Files of the U.S. District Courts, 1870-1896
• 1887-1896 - Oath records, 1887-1896

History of Polygamy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

A few members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practiced polygamy in the early 1840s. Between 1852 and 1890, Latter-day Saints openly practiced polygamy and most of these families lived in Utah. In 1890 the current president of The Church, Wilford Woodruff, issued the Manifesto which forbid new plural marriages. Some members continued to enter new polygamist marriages until 1904 when a Second Manifesto declared plural marriages punishable by excommunication.

Additional Reading

• The persistence of polygamy : Fundamentalist Mormon polygamy from 1890 to the present. Edited by Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster. Independence, Missouri : John Whitmer Books, 2015.

Polygamy Research Methodology

Tips

• Research each wife and her children.
• Look at the ages and birth years of the children. You'll find that some children couldn't have physically been born to the same woman.
• Check for multiple households in the censuses. Wives didn't always live with one another or even with their common husband.
• Polygamist husbands didn't always live close to their wives. Sometimes the husband would move far away (but they didn't get a divorce). Sometimes husbands served missions and lived far away from their wives.
• Use other records for Latter-day Saints as well as records you'd use for U.S. research.