Tag: Cochranites

Origins of LDS Polygamy- Samuel Smith & Orson Hyde's Missionary Journals Among the Cochranites

Origins of LDS Polygamy: Samuel Smith & Orson Hyde’s Missionary Journals Among the Cochranites

What are the real origins of LDS polygamy? Where did it start? Who was involved? Where did these teachings of spiritual wives and plural wives come from? One of the earliest contemporary first hand records we have are the priceless journals of Samuel Smith and Orson Hyde, two early Mormon missionaries who detailed extensively their findings among the Cochranite people of 1832 New England. Did the Cochranites influence early LDS polygamy? Why does the LDS church own these journals, yet speak nothing of them and their connections to early origins of polygamy?

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