Was William Law Right About Emma Smith?

[_Tchild]

But on this point, I don't expect to gain one yard with apologists.

You had me at "hello".

Great post Ray A.

[_dblagent007]

The ironic thing about this is that Emma once demanded a plural husband reasoning that if Joseph got to practice the "principle" she should too. Who did she want? None other than William Law.

I thought it was William Clayton with whom she was threatening to indulge herself. According to Clayton's 23 June 1843 journal entry, "This A.M. President Joseph took me and conversed considerable concerning some delicate matters. Said [Emma] wanted to lay a snare for me. He told me last night of this and said he had felt troubled. He said [Emma] had treated him coldly and badly since I came...and he knew she was disposed to be revenged on him for some things. She thought that if he would indulge himself she would too. He cautioned me very kindly for which I felt thankful."

Here is the account from Mormon Enigma:

Lucy Smith's history states that [Joseph H.] Jackson had asked Hyrum's permission to marry his daughter Lovina but was rebuffed, and when Joseph refused to intervene he entered into a "conspiracy" against the whole Smith family. In the wake of Jackson's aborted courtship, he claimed that Joseph confided to him that he had been attempting to "get Mrs. William Law for a spiritual wife." He explained that "for the purpose of affecting his object [Joseph] got up a revelation that Law was to be sealed up to Emma, and that Law's wife was to be his; in other words there was to be a spiritual swop." Jackson commented that Joseph "had never before suffered his passion for any woman to carry him so far as to be willing to sacrifice Emma for its gratification." As an old man in 1887, William Law said, "Joseph Smith never proposed anything of the kind to me or to my wife; both he and Emma knew our sentiments in relation to spiritual wives and polygamy; knew that we were immoveably opposed to polygamy in any and every form." Yet while Law denied that Joseph offered him to Emma, he believed the rumor had its base in a story "that Joseph offered to furnish his wife, Emma, with a substitute for him, by way of compensation for his neglect of her, on condition that she would stop her opposition to polygamy and permit him to enjoy his young wives in peace and keep some of them in the house."

Some writers have speculated that Joseph offered Emma a plural husband as a test of some sort. This view is based on a verse in the plural marriage revelation directed specifically to Emma: "A commandment I give unto my handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to prove you all, as I did Abraham." This particular verse is ambiguous as it stands and was recorded nearly a year before the incident with the Laws reportedly occurred. Its meaning remains a mystery.

. . .

What was Emma's part in the incident with William and Jane Law? Did she ask for William as a "spiritual husband?" William Clayton indicated a year earlier that in an argument with Joseph over his wives Emma had countered that "if he would indulge himself" she thought "she might too," but no evidence, other than the word of the unprincipled Jackson; links her to William Law or anyone else. Law soon formed another church based on the Book of Mormon without the entanglements of plural marriage and with himself as head. Plural marriage was not the only point of departure with Joseph. Law had begun to chafe under the church's increasing power over the social, economic, and political lives of the members. He saw these powers as overshadowing the members' freedom of choice in an ever widening sphere.

My take away from this is that it sounds like there is good reason to believe that Joseph Smith offered Emma another husband, but whether it was Law or not is on shakier grounds.

I recall reading this somewhere else (Wife No. 19?), but I can't recall for sure.

[_Inconceivable]

Something that intrigues me is that JSIII perpetuated the lie that his father was a one woman guy. For 30 years Emma just let him run around stupid without leveling with him?

It's time to toss the notion that any of these people had any salt in them.

[_Nevo]

My take away from this is that it sounds like there is good reason to believe that Joseph Smith offered Emma another husband, but whether it was Law or not is on shakier grounds.

I'm a bit more skeptical on this question. I find it hard to imagine that Joseph would have offered Emma another husband. Law quotes Emma as telling him at one point that "Joe and I have settled our troubles on the basis of equal rights" but I doubt that is an exact quote.

If Emma fancied William Law, the feeling seems not to have been mutual: "Emma was a full accomplice of Joseph's crimes. She was a large, coarse woman . . . always full of schemes and smooth as oil. They were worthy of each other, she was not a particle better than he" (Wilhelm Wyl interview with William Law, 30 March 1887).

[_Inconceivable]

"Emma was a full accomplice of Joseph's crimes. She was a large, coarse woman . . . always full of schemes and smooth as oil. They were worthy of each other, she was not a particle better than he".

Who comes to mind when reading this quote? The current Secretary of State?