Polygamy

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• Polygamy – the marriage of more than one woman to the same man – was an important part of the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for half a century in the 1800s. 
• Its origin in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be traced to 1831, when Church founder Joseph Smith made a prayerful inquiry about the ancient Old Testament practice of plural marriage.  This resulted in the divine instruction to reinstitute the practice as a religious principle. It began in the 1830s.
• The Church honors and respects the sacrifices of those who chose to live this principle during the formative years of the Church.
• In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff, fourth president of the Church, received a revelation to withdraw the command. Today, polygamy is strictly prohibited in the Church.
• Some people left the Church to continue the practice of polygamy, or were excommunicated because they refused to give up the practice. Some of their descendants are found in polygamous communities today in various parts of the United States and Canada, but especially in the West. They are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church President Gordon B. Hinckley stated the following about polygamy in the Church's October 1998 general conference:

“I wish to state categorically that this Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing polygamy. They are not members of this Church. Most of them have never been members … If any of our members are found to be practicing plural marriage, they are excommunicated, the most serious penalty the Church can impose. Not only are those so involved in direct violation of the civil law, they are in violation of the law of this Church.”