Ann Eliza Published the Death Star Plans
In 2021, I did a 10-day series of posts leading up to Thanksgiving to share resources, quotes, and stories about how I deconstructed the doctrine of LDS Mormon Polygamy, or as the early Latter-day Saints called it “the Practice.” I used the hashtags #givethanks for each of these posts because then-Prophet Russell M. Nelson had just hyped up members to receive a modern day prophecy which consisted of him suggesting that all members of the Church do some humble-bragging missionary work with that hashtag in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. As far as I know, Church Members are still circulating this hashtag around Thanksgiving as a way to signal their loyalty to the Church when posting about the holiday.
These posts were a bit more passive aggressive than normal for me, since I generally try/tried to be very gentle with Church Members. I know how it feels to be in that tender balance of earnestness + cognitive dissonance while being overloaded with Church chores and family duties. My goal even as I deconstructed, was to be hard on the system but soft with people. However, getting a full face of gushing gratitude about Temples and the General Authorities and Joseph Smith every day when I went to Social Media was pretty grating and ultimately, these 10 posts were an attempt to communicate with the community I come from by using the “in-speak” of the Church while inviting critical thinking, rather than herd-compliance.
The #Givethanks Anti-Polygamy Posts
Day 2
Today, I #givethanks for Ann Eliza Young.
She is one of the very few first-hand accounts from a woman describing what it was like to live in polygamous state of Deseret. Besides being interesting and florid in style, her book is a fascinating glimpse into the life of a polygamous wife in Nauvoo, as her mother was, presents a wealth of information about the social hierarchies and intricacies of the bloody “Reformation” period in Utah, and details the frontier phobias, the enforcement of polygamy, and in general, the patterns of totalism that were taking place as Brigham consolidated power.
Her courtship (<–a generous description) with Brigham Young reads a bit like Pride Prejudice, except that Brigham combines the traits of Mr. Wickham, Collins, and prideful-Darcy into one character. And he never changes. And he wins.
He was 67. She was 24 with 2 young children, and already a domestic abuse survivor. She labored without pay to make manage Brigham’s farms and then live as a single mother supporting herself by leasing her small house as a Inn in SLC for years before a couple of traveling “Gentiles” helped her escape.
Documentation and analyses of her court case against Brigham following her escape from Utah can still be found online. Her book certainly has a bias, but it is nonetheless extremely historical. Though she wrote from recall, most of her information, including names and dates, has been verified, since then, by the LDS Church and by other independent historians. She did not have a happy life, but she certainly did her best in the pre-Information age to combat corruption with information. I’m extremely grateful for her courage and example of speaking truth to power.
This book is one of the best windows I have found to understanding what my ancestresses went through as they lived polygamy in Utah.
May she Rest In Peace because the Church certainly put her through He🔥🔥
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