Early Mormon Missionary Polygamy with Native Americans? - John Turner Pt. 10 | Ep. 2048

Early Mormon Missionary Polygamy with Native Americans: The 1831 Revelation You Probably Never Heard About

Mormon Sunday School lessons rarely mention the July 1831 revelation suggesting missionaries take Native American wives to produce "white, delightsome" offspring. Yet according to contemporary accounts and later reminiscences, Joseph Smith received exactly such instruction during the church's first expedition to Missouri. The story surfaces in John Turner's new biography and recent discussions on the Mormon Stories Podcast, forcing a confrontation with early Mormonism's racial theology and the contested origins of plural marriage.

Background: The Land of Joseph and the Lamanite Mission

In summer 1831, Joseph Smith led a delegation to Jackson County, Missouri, identifying the area as the site of the New Jerusalem and the location for the gathering of Zion. The expedition carried dual purposes: securing land for Mormon settlement and converting Native American tribes whom Mormons identified as the Lamanites, remnant descendants of the Book of Mormon peoples.

Smith brought key lieutenants including Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Gilbert, and Edward Partridge. The group also included Ezra Booth, a former Methodist minister whose subsequent disillusionment would produce some of the earliest published criticisms of Mormonism. According to Booth's letters, the company gathered on a Sunday in Missouri to discuss missionary assignments to the Indians. Smith withdrew to pray and returned with what participants understood as divine instruction regarding marriage to Native women.

Key Claims: The 1831 Polygamy Revelation