Footnotes
Cole et al., Encyclopedia of Modern Everyday Inventions, 22; Edelman, “Brief History of Tape,” 45–46.
Cole, David J., Eve Browning, and Fred E.H. Schroeder. Encyclopedia of Modern Everyday Inventions. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003.
Edelman, Jonathan. “A Brief History of Tape.” Ambidextrous 5 (Falling in 2006): 45–46.
See the full bibliographic entry for JS Collection (Supplement), 1833–1844, in the CHL catalog. A preliminary inventory of the supplement was created in 1992 and its cataloging was finalized in 2017.
Footnotes
Charges against Harrison Sagers Preferred to William Marks, 21 Nov. 1843; Nauvoo Third Ward Census, [25], Nauvoo Stake, Ward Census, CHL; 1840 U.S. Census, Hancock Co., IL, 175.
Nauvoo Stake. Ward Census, 1842. CHL.
Census (U.S.) / U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Schedules. Microfilm. FHL.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 25 Nov. 1843, 21–22; JS, Journal, 25 Nov. 1843. On that occasion, JS condemned adultery and fornication and stated that he had never approved of such behavior. (Remarks, 25 Nov. 1843.)
JS, Journal, 8 Apr. 1844; Historian’s Office, General Church Minutes, 6–9 Apr. 1844, 30.
Historian’s Office. General Church Minutes, 1839–1877. CHL
See Revelation, 12 July 1843. In a private conversation, JS told William Clayton that if word got out about Clayton’s participation in plural marriage, JS would give him “an awful scourging” and likely cut him off from the church but then rebaptize him and reinstate him “as good as ever.” (Clayton, Journal, 19 Oct. 1843.)
Clayton, William. Journals, 1842–1845. CHL.
At Sagers’s hearing before the high council, three witnesses testified that they had heard Sagers teach the “doctrine of spiritual wives” and that Sagers “believed it to be the order of God.” One of the witnesses, Sarah M. Hadlock, stated that Sagers “practiced it” and “wanted to raise children (to raise a righteous Branch).” Hadlock also testified that Sagers was interested in having “an old woman to get young women for him.” Furthermore, Hadlock stated that Sagers believed that “a person must swear false about spiritual wifes if need be after they come into the covenant.” In 1869 Nathan Tanner swore an affidavit stating that JS taught the doctrine of plural marriage to Sagers in spring 1844. (Nauvoo Stake High Council, Minutes, ca. 13 Apr. 1844, JS Collection [Supplement], CHL; Hancock Co., IL, Deed Records, 1817–1917, vol. P, pp. 167–168, 11 May 1846, microfilm 954,602, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL; Nathan Tanner, Affidavit, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, 28 Aug. 1869, in Joseph F. Smith, Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1:76.)
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.
U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.
Smith, Joseph F. Affidavits about Celestial Marriage, 1869–1915. CHL. MS 3423.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 13 Apr. 1844, 29.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.
“One Cent Reward,” Nauvoo Expositor, 7 June 1844, [3], italics in original. In the early United States, posting an announcement of this kind constituted marital separation and was a method of self-divorcing. (See Lyons, Sex among the Rabble, chap. 1.)
Nauvoo Expositor. Nauvoo, IL. 1844.
Lyons, Clare A. Sex among the Rabble: An Intimate History of Gender and Power in the Age of Revolution, Philadelphia, 1730–1830. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, 13 Apr. 1844, 28–29.
Nauvoo Stake High Council Minutes, ca. 1839–ca. 1843. Fair copy. In Oliver Cowdery, Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL.
Whatever the extent of Harrison Sagers’s knowledge of plural marriage, “spiritual wives” would have been the term that Lucinda Sagers was most familiar with to describe her husband’s actions. (See Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, 16 Mar. 1844, [125], in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 129–130; and William W. Phelps with Emma Smith Revisions, “The Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo,” Feb.–Mar. 1844, in Derr et al., First Fifty Years of Relief Society, 151–156.)
Lucinda Sagers may have had in mind Joseph Hadlock; his wife, Sarah M. Hadlock; and a “P. Wells,” who testified before the Nauvoo high council on 13 April 1844 that Harrison Sagers taught the “spiritual wife doctrine.” (Nauvoo Stake High Council, Minutes, ca. 13 Apr. 1844, JS Collection [Supplement], CHL.)
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.
According to Illinois law, Lucinda Sagers could obtain a legal divorce from Harrison Sagers after two years had passed since Harrison abandoned her. Lucinda could also have been referring to an Illinois law prohibiting bigamy. (An Act concerning Divorces [31 Jan. 1827], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 250, sec. 1; An Act relative to Criminal Jurisprudence [26 Feb. 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, pp. 220–221, sec. 121.)
The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.
Sarah M. Hadlock stated in her testimony to the high council that Harrison and Lucinda Sagers “parted by agreement” on 8 December 1843. (Nauvoo Stake High Council, Minutes, ca. 13 Apr. 1844, JS Collection [Supplement], CHL.)
Smith, Joseph. Collection, 1827–1846. CHL. MS 155.
Signature of Lucinda Madison Sagers.