Plural marriage among the Mormons
“When God commands a difficult task, He sometimes sends other messengers to induce His people to obey God. Consistent with this, Joseph Smith reported to some of his companions, that after Joseph Smith had hesitated, an angel appeared three times between 1834 and 1842, commanding him to institute plural marriage. The third and last time, the angel stood before him with a drawn sword and threatened Joseph Smith with destruction if he did not arise to fully observe the commandment [of plural marriages]."
Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage
Joseph practiced polygamy before the sealing power was given. LDS historian Richard Buschmann has this to say: "There is evidence that Joseph was already a polygamist by 1835" - Rough Stone Rolling, p. 323. Polygamy is rooted in the idea of "sealing" for time and eternity. However, the "sealing authority" was not issued until April 3rd, restored in 1836 when Elijah appeared to Joseph in the Kirtland Temple and bestowed upon him the keys of sealing. Thus, Joseph's marriage to Fanny Alger in 1833 was illegal. Under both laws, the land, but also the divine law, it was adultery.
Joseph Smith was married to 34 wives. 7 of them were between 14 and 18 years old. 11 of them were already married to other men.
https://familysearch.org/pal://MM9.2.1/M18D-5C8
They were just sealsin
Joseph Smith had been in "plural marriage" for ten years before the 1843 "Revelation" (July 12, 1843, D&C 132). Prior to July 12, 1843, he was plural in marriage with at least 28 wives and lied to his wife, Emma Smith, and to the public about the matter.
In detail
The 1836 appearance of Elijah in the Kirtland Temple is described in D&C 110. However, the section was not added to LuB until 1879. The passage is from notes by Warren Cowdery, written in the third person, found and rewritten in 1852. D&C 110 does not actually speak of Elijah transmitting any keys.
Joseph Smith's sealing power is made clear in D&C 132. Section 132 was also later added to the book of D&C when plural marriage was openly practiced in the Church, invoking religious liberty. Now this could not be done as long as there was no canonical justification for plural marriage. So section 132 was added. The passage is probably composed of several parts and originally came about to convince Emma Smith of plural marriage. However, plural marriage began around 1833, so the revelation of D&C 132 must have taken place earlier. Thus, if Elijah had not bestowed the sealing power until 1836, Joseph Smith could not have it when, according to D&C 132, he married the first wives after Emma. There is also evidence that Joseph Smith sealed individuals and groups for eternal life in 1831. This would also not fit if the power to seal was supposed to have been restored by Elijah in 1836.
So the whole construct seems inconsistent and based on a misunderstanding by Orson Pratt in 1852, who erroneously dated the revelation in D&C 132 to 1843.
contradictions
D&C 132:1
Verily, thus saith the Lord unto thee, my servant Joseph: Since thou hast inquired of my hand, and wish to know and understand how far I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also Moses, David, and Solomon, my servants, as to the principle and doctrine, that they had many wives and concubines—behold, yea, behold, I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee concerning this matter.
Jacob 2:24:
Behold, indeed David and Solomon had many wives and concubines, and that was an abomination before me, saith the Lord.
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Interestingly, in the early days of the Church, there was a section in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants that forbade plural marriage! So the church initially did not believe in polygamous practices. In this cited passage (101:4) it says:
"And insofar as this Church of Christ has been charged with the crimes of fornication and polygamy: We proclaim that we believe that a man should have a wife; and a woman only one husband...."
This section was printed in every issue of the Doctrine and Covenants until 1876. At that time, Section 132 was added, allowing polygamy, and that section prohibiting polygamy was removed entirely. Wilford Woodruff, who was the fourth President of the Church, stated the following in an interview:
"Q: Now I ask you, Mr. Woodruff, why the Church of which you are President removed in the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants the section on marriage found in the 1835 edition and in in all issues through 1876, and inserted instead the revelation on plural marriage of July 12, 1843? A: I don't know why this was done, it was done by the authority of him who was then President, I believe was President Young then President... Q: Wasn't it done because one thing conflicted with the other? A: I don't know..."
So the leaders had no answer as to why this action was taken. What, then, does the Church think of plural marriages made before the revelation of July 12, 1843? Lorenzo Snow, fifth President of the Church, said:
"And a man who broke the law in the 1835 edition, up to the time the Church accepted Revelation [section 132], broke the law of the Church if he practiced plural marriage. Yes, sir, he would be rejected by the Church, and I think that should be the same for me if I had.If, prior to the revelation of 1843, a man had had more than one wife living at the same time, he would be of the church. It would have been adultery under the laws of the church and under the laws of the state as well."
Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger
Fragmented evidence suggests that in response to the angel's first commandment, Joseph Smith married another woman, Fanny Alger, in Kirtland, Ohio, in the mid-1930s. Decades later, several members who had lived in Kirtland reported that after obtaining her and her parents' consent, Joseph Smith married Fanny Alger, who had lived and worked in the Smith household. Little is known of this marriage, and nothing is known of the conversations between Joseph and Emma Smith about Fanny Alger. After his marriage to Fanny Alger ended in separation, Joseph Smith seemed to have put the issue of plural marriage on the back burner until the Church moved to Nauvoo, Illinois.
https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng
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Fanny Alger was the first of several wives to whom Joseph Smith was sealed according to plural marriages, which he himself taught as divine revelation.
Although there are no written records of the plural marriage, which was practiced only secretly at the time, many assume that the matter was as stated above. Fanny was 16 at the time and a domestic help in the home of Joseph and Emma Smith in Kirtland, Ohio. According to Emma Smith, the marriage was also kept secret from her. When Emma discovered the intimate relationship between her husband and Fanny Alger, who was described as very attractive, she evicted the young woman from the house, who then moved in with relatives in nearby Mayfield. The family later moved to Indiana, where Fanny Alger married Solomon Custer and had nine children by him. Statements that Fanny Alger gave birth to a child of Joseph Smith could not be confirmed, but could not be refuted either. She herself did not comment on her relationship with Joseph Smith.
Another good resource dealing with the polygamy of Joseph Smith and his polygamous wives is