# 20 Sharing Your Wife? Quick Questions For Mormons

Mormonism Research Ministry web site. www.mrm.org Even so, nothing indicates that sexual relations were left out of plural marriages; [Joseph Bates] Noble testified many years later that Joseph spent the night with Louisa [Beaman] after the wedding. But there was no mormon seraglio or Nauvoo harem as his enemies charged. Not until many years later did anyone claim Joseph Smiths paternity, and evidence for the tiny handful of supposed children is tenuous (Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith Rough Stone Rolling, p.439. Brackets mine). The marital status of the plural wives further complicated the issue. Within fifteen months of marrying Louisa Beaman, Joseph had married eleven other women. Eight of the eleven were married to other men. All told, ten of Josephs wives were married to other men. All of them went on living with their first husbands after marrying the Prophet. The reason for choosing married women can only be surmised. Not all were married to non-Mormon men: six of the ten husbands were active Latter-day Saints In most cases the husband knew of the plural marriage and approved (Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith—Rough Stone Rolling, p.439QQFM is a series of quick questions for Mormons (hence the name) and other interest parties to ponder. The answers to the questions just might be a little more revealing than most Mormons would want to admit.