Family Friday ~ Price Polygamy ~ Part 2

It was 1879 when Grandpa Robert took his 3rd wife. Christina Shepherd and her family reached Paris, Idaho in 1877 from South England. Robert was now a bishop and responsible for the whole community. He had the approval of Grandma Matilda and wife number two to marry Christina and she also had the approval of her family in becoming a plural wife to Bishop Price. At the time of this marriage wife number one had five children, and wife number two had seven children. Shortly after the third wife joined the family, Grandma Matilda died that same year so she wasn't around to see wife number four who came along in 1887. 

The Edmunds-Tucker Act came along that very same year. This was an act of Congress that focused on restricting plural marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons). An amendment to the earlier Edmunds Act was passed in response to the dispute between the United States Congress and the LDS Church regarding polygamy. 

In 1888 Idaho Mormons were without the right to vote, hold public office, serve on a jury, or teach school. This was because the Idaho territorial legislature passed a series of laws, known as the Idaho Test Oath. Hundreds of Latter-day Saints resigned their membership thinking they could vote again. Some of my ancestors were among them. I found that out when I noticed that one of my great-grandfathers was baptized twice.

1890 is when Church President Wilford Woodruff made the Anti-Polygamy Manifesto a statement that officially advised against any future plural marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). The manifesto was in response to mounting pressure from the US Congress which by 1890 had disincorporated the church, reverted its assets to the US Federal government, and imprisoned many prominent polygamist Mormons.

There was a "Second Manifesto" declared by LDS President Joseph F. Smith in 1904. Smith stated the church was no longer sanctioning marriages that violated the laws of the land and set down the principle that those entering into or solemnizing polygamous marriages would be excommunicated from the church.

Now this is about the time that Robert was in some hot water. I found a couple of newspaper articles about his arrest. 

And this rendition from the biography of Robert Price: 

According to the account handed down by members of the family, the marshals had been drinking heavily when they arrived at the Price home. To their surprise, and perhaps embarrassment, they were treated well. Susannah prepared breakfast for the bishop and the two deputies before they left. Robert made no effort to escape, though he had a good opportunity. Meanwhile, Dick Williams was so drunk that he had a runaway on the way back to Montpelier and badly broke up his outfit.

 The Federal man, who had the papers for Robert’s arrest, took his prisoner on to Boise, the capital. It was a long tiresome journey, and by the time they reached McCammon, where they had to change trains, the officer was sound asleep. It was necessary for Robert to wake him up to make the transfer. At Boise his case was fixed for $150. He was permitted to return home, and was never again arrested.

 In 1904 Robert was among 20 polygamists who were charged with cohabitation.

Monday,_October_24,_1904_Idaho_Statesman_Page5

I have been referring to a book which was written by my great uncle Ezra Poulsen about my 2nd great-grandfather Robert Price. If you would like to you can read it online here. I am going to end here by quoting a paragraph that shows the mindset of apologetic Mormons even today.

" ...in Robert Price’s time plural marriage was a reality— a bold unconventional reality, fraught with endless challenge and perplexing adjustments. It was regarded as a divine principle, to be accepted only in the spirit of humility and faith. Even in those days it was a highly selective principle—not for the weakling nor the lustful, but for those who had been tried and found worthy. Robert and the good women who bore his name and his children accepted the principle in the spirit in which it was given."

Next time we will talk about his divorce from his last wife (props to her) and another wife that I found and I have a feeling she was a secret wife 🤷‍♀️