Source:Gospel Topics:Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah:Although some leaders had large polygamous families, two-thirds of polygamist men had only two wives at a time

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Gospel Topics: "Although some leaders had large polygamous families, two-thirds of polygamist men had only two wives at a time"

"Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah," Gospel Topics on LDS.org:

Still, some patterns are discernible, and they correct some myths. Although some leaders had large polygamous families, two-thirds of polygamist men had only two wives at a time. Church leaders recognized that plural marriages could be particularly difficult for women. Divorce was therefore available to women who were unhappy in their marriages; remarriage was also readily available. Women did marry at fairly young ages in the first decade of Utah settlement (age 16 or 17 or, infrequently, younger), which was typical of women living in frontier areas at the time. As in other places, women married at older ages as the society matured. Almost all women married, and so did a large percentage of men. In fact, it appears that a larger percentage of men in Utah married than elsewhere in the United States at the time. Probably half of those living in Utah Territory in 1857 experienced life in a polygamous family as a husband, wife, or child at some time during their lives. By 1870, 25 to 30 percent of the population lived in polygamous households, and it appears that the percentage continued to decrease over the next 20 years.[1]


Notes

  1. "Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah," Gospel Topics on LDS.org (2013)