"Did Emma, the elect lady, come to your house and complain about Joseph?"
"No. She never came to my house for that purpose. But I met her sometimes on the street and then she used to complain, especially because of the girls whom Joseph kept in the house, devoting his attention to them. You have overrated her, she was dishonest."
Emma Smith Interview:
Q. What about the revelation on Polygamy? Did Joseph Smith have anything like it? What of spiritual wifery?
A. There was no revelation on either polygamy, or spiritual wives. There were some rumors of something of the sort, of which I asked my husband. He assured me that all there was of it was, that in a chat about plural wives, he had said, "Well, such a system might possiblybe, if everybody was agreed to it, and would behave as they should; but they would not; and, besides, it was contrary to the will of heaven." Q. Did he not have other wives than yourself?
A. He had no other wife but me; nor did he to my knowledge ever have.
Q. Did he not hold marital relation with women other than yourself?
A. He did not have improper relations with any woman that ever came to my knowledge.
Q. Was there nothing about spiritual wives that you recollect?
A. At one time my husband came to me and asked me if I had heard certain rumors about spiritual marriages, or anything of the kind; and assured me that if I had, that they were without foundation; that there was no such doctrine, and never should be with his knowledge, or consent. I know that he had no other wife or wives than myself, in any sense, either spiritual or otherwise.8
From Charles M. Turner, SISTER EMMA'S LAST TESTIMONY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
(Emphasis added)How can one account for the false nature of Sister Emma's Last Testimony, given her reputation for honesty? Why did the motives, cited above, overcome her deep-seated integrity? Three possible explanations suggest themselves.
First, psychological or physical factors may have altered her memory of the past. The passing of time, failing memory, or psychological denial may have altered her recollections. In a similar case of historical misstatement in old age, RLDS Church Historian Richard P. Howard suggested that "the endless nuances of the polemic process" distorted the memory of one caught up in it, "encouraging anomalies in statements over time and under tumultuous conditions."24 But this will hardly explain Emma Smith's denials spanning several decades.
Second, the Last Testimony may contain truthful incidents designed to mislead, half-truths, ambiguous language, and term-switching.25 The accounts of the prophet's denials of polygamy are probably true, taking place before 1843, when he first spoke to his wife about it openly. The statement that there was "no revelation" and that there were "no other wives" may be a way of saying, "There was no true revelation," and, "There were no true wives but myself." The phrase, "that ever came to my knowledge," may be akin to Emma Smith Bidamon's refusal to acknowledge Nancy Abercrombie's affair with L. C. Bidamon.
Third, and last, the denials of polygamy in Sister Emma's Last Testimony may be regarded simply as lies. However much the prophet's first wife may have justified her answers as technically true but semantically evasive, the bald fact remains that, by design, they conveyed to the reader or listener an idea which was false. In the case of a woman noted for her integrity, only extremities could have driven her to such dissimulation. In the case of the hateful doctrine of plural marriage, Emma Smith Bidamon faced just such an extremity. The truth was too painful, too dangerous, and too wicked, in her eyes, to testify to, even as she approached death, in 1879.
Dishonest? Or just self-deluded? Or both?