In a speech of Brigham Young on June 21, 1874, (see Deseret News of July 1, 1874), we read the following statement relative to the origin of this doctrine of polygamy:
While we were in England (in 1839 and 1840, I think) the Lord manifested to me by vision and His Spirit, things that I did not then understand. I never opened my mouth to anyone concerning them, until I returned to Nauvoo; Joseph had never mentioned this; there had never been a thought of it in the church that I ever knew anything about at that time;—but I had this for myself and kept it for myself.—The Messenger, volume 1, page 29.
Well, no one need blame Joseph any more, Brigham is the self-confessed channel through which polygamy was given to his people.
I here submit the testimony of Brigham Young's legal wife, who left him after he was untrue to her. Testimony of Major Thomas Wanless, given to R. C. Evans, his nephew, in the presence of Mrs. Wanless, Mrs. Evans and her daughter, in St. Louis, Missouri, September 7, 1904:
I met Brigham Young's first and legal wife and her daughter in the winter of 1860 and 1861, at Central City, Colorado; she told me that Joseph Smith had nothing to do with polygamy; that he did not teach, practice, or in any way endorse the doctrine of polygamy, that he had nothing to do with the so-called revelation on celestial marriage; that he had but one wife. My husband, Brigham Young, Orson Pratt (she gave the name of another man whose name I have forgotten) made up the revelation on celestial marriage.
Before they left Illinois some of them practiced polygamy. Brigham Young went to Utah to reorganize the church and publicly introduced polygamy, or to reorganize the Church on a polygamous basis.
She left Brigham Young, finally obtained a divorce from him, and was then living with her daughter. Brigham sent the daughter money according to an agreement. She told me they ought to have shot Brigham Young in place of Joseph Smith.
This statement of Major Wanless that she was Brigham's first wife is a mistake. Brigham married Miriam Works, October 8, 1824; she died September 8, 1832. In February, 1834, he married May Ann Angel; she was his legal wife, and perhaps is the one referred to by the Major. It is quite pardonable in Major Wanless in getting Brigham's wives mixed up. We opine poor Brigham was at his wit's end to keep the family record correct himself.
Chambers' encyclopedia, volume 8, students' edition, confirms Mrs. Young's statement, in part. It says, speaking of the practice of polygamy: "Young, Pratt and Hyde are its true originators. Emma, wife and widow of the prophet, stoutly denied that her husband had any wife but herself. Young's revelation she declared to be a fraud."
From a host of other witnesses who testify that Brigham Young was the man that introduced polygamy in the Church, I submit the statement of another broken-hearted woman from the ranks of Brigham's Church. Fanny Stenhouse says: "Polygamy was unheard of among the (English) Saints in 1849." (pages 45, 47, 48) "Tell It All," by Fanny Stenhouse. "In June 1850, I heard the first whisper of polygamy. In January, 1853, I first saw the revelation on Polygamy; it was published in the Millennial Star," (page 132).
"Out of thirty thousand Saints in England in 1853, 1776 had been excommunicated for apostasy through polygamy, the president of the conference was cut off," (page 160). When speaking regarding polygamy she says: "They know that the only source of all their revelations is the man BRIGHAM YOUNG," (page 190).
"Brigham has outraged decency and driven asunder the most sacred ties, by his shameless introduction of polygamy," (page 273).