Mary Jensen Moulton and Polygamy

Mary Moulton and children before leaving for Mexico about 1891.

I have always wondered what it must have been like to grow up in a polygamist family. My maternal second great-grandfather had three wives.   I once read a book that my own mother, Maxine Moulton Owen, said described polygamy as she had imagined it.  Written by Rodello Hunter in 1965,  A House of Many Rooms tells the story of a large Mormon family growing up at the turn of the century.  I own two copies so I always have one to loan out.

Published in 1965

One person who reviewed that book reflected my own feelings:  "This memoir of a Mormon family is one of the most touching and beautiful stories I have ever read. It warmly tells the happenings, both joyous and sad, of a family's growth. I have cried hard while reading this book and laughed out loud, neither of which I do frequently while reading. You won't ever forget this book once you read it. -Kayli"

On the other hand, I also have the personal history of a great-uncle, William A. Moulton, who grew up in a polygamous family as the son of Joseph and Mary (Jensine Marie Jensen) Moulton.  Will was the brother of my grandfather, Hyrum Chase Moulton.   His memories of the tough life his mother endured have certainly  influenced his opinion about "The Principle" of plural marriage.  (The entire ten page history written in 1933-34 is not yet available on  LDS FamilyTree.)

(Some following was taken from the biography of Joseph Moulton as found in:  How Beautiful upon the Mountains, compiled and edited by Wm. James Mortimer (Wasatch County Chapter, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Salt Lake, 1963), p. 460-61; and interview notes compiled by Velma Buys in Sept. 1928.)

Joseph Moulton came from England to America in 1856 as an eleven year old.

 In December 1868, Joseph Moulton married Elizabeth Giles in the Endowment House.  Joseph had built a one-room log house for his bride on the corner of Second East and Center Street in Heber City, Utah. It was furnished with a bedstead, table and chairs made with his own hands.  To them were born nine children.

On February 26, 1876, Joseph married two Danish immigrant sisters, Annie Katrina and Jensine Marie Jensen (Mary).  Their first home was their husband's granary.  Later he built a newer home for Elizabeth (Aunt Lizzie) and moved his other two wives into Lizzie's former home.  Annie had six children and Jensine (Aunt Mary) had eight.

Three wives:  Annie, Lizzie, Mary (Annie Jensen, Elizabeth Giles, Jensine Marie Jensen) Moulton.

In 1885, Joseph was called on a mission to the Southern States.  After serving a year, President Abraham Hatch sent him home, feeling that his large family needed him.  Later he filled a mission in Colorado in the interest of the Mutual Improvement work. 

Recently I learned that my 2^nd great grandfather, Joseph Moulton, was actually arrested for u.c. (unlawful cohabitation). 

Polygamists in Utah State Prison in 1888.  Joseph Moulton was released after 2 days.

 Andrew Jensen's Church Chronology records that on Wed. September 9, 1885 "Deputy Marshals made a raid on Heber, Wasatch Co., and arrested Joseph Moulton, John W. Witt and John Duke, charged with u. c. (unlawful cohabitation).  The prisoners were brought to Salt Lake City with subpoenaed witnesses. . . . Fri. 11.--Joseph Moulton was discharged, after the usual examination before com. McKay, there being no testimony to hold him."  (p. 123)

Joseph Moulton

There was a great deal of agitation against plural marriage from its first public announcement.  Because of opposition to this practice the Edmund Tucker Bill was passed in 1887, making it illegal for a man to live with more than one wife.  Hoping to be able to live with his three families, Joseph moved to Old Mexico in 1891 as did many of the Saints.  The trip was made by train to Deming, New Mexico, and from there to Dublan, Old Mexico, by wagon.  That year there was a severe drought around Dublan, and there was little feed for stock.  The water homes dried up and the bleaching bones of cattle could be seen everywhere.  Without water it was impossible to raise crops and there was no work for the older boys, so Joseph and Aunt Lizzie returned to Utah with her family after spending six weeks there.  The family of Mary Moulton was there nearly a year.  

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Mary Moulton did whatever she could to help provide for her family.   She made a living for many years as a dressmaker.  

William wrote, "She raised flower seeds, gathered them, threshed them out, put them in papers, and sold them at a store for a few things needed in the house."  

Mary was among the first to buy a washing machine and would make arrangements to do washing for families in Heber.  She also made red currant jelly and sold it in Park City.  

After surviving in the "house of mud"  and nearly starving during their year in Dublan, Old Mexico, the Mary Moulton family returned to Salem, Utah, not far from Payson.  Eventually, the family moved back to Heber City but "we were soon to learn that our father would never live with us again as he had once done."  

Mary worked for Mrs. (Abraham?) Hatch in Heber earning 50 cents per day.  She cleaned the school house.   She and her daughters were the leading dressmakers in town until  Mary's eyes began to fail.  She moved to Salt Lake to live with her daughter, Millie, who had found work there.  Unfortunately, Millie (and another daughter Lyle) took sick with typhoid fever and after 3 months, Millie died.  Mary moved back to Heber City.  She was now 63 years old and her health was beginning to fail.   She was also caring for an invalid daughter, Lyle.

Mary started a store in Heber City and some thought she could not stay in business for six months, but she met all her payments promptly and worked the store for four years.  Then she sold the store to try her hand at the rooming house business "as she thought she might stand the work better.  She was a very intelligent and a real business woman, and if it had not been for her poor health and her daughter's illness, she would no doubt have become a very well-to-do woman.  But whenever her daughter needed help, mother would sacrifice everything with a hope that she might be able to bring health and happiness into the poor suffering life of her beloved daughter, Lyle."

Mary moved first to Salt Lake running a rooming house business there.   Later she moved to California, hoping the weather there would be helpful to Lyle.  She operated a rooming house again.  For a short while she moved to Arizona and then back to California.  Always she was dealing with the medical expenses for her daughter.  For a while she returned to Provo, Utah to live with her son, Will and his family.  Once again she went to Salt Lake where she ran yet another rooming house.

Mary (Jensine Marie Jensen) Moulton

In the spring of 1932, at the age of 73, Mary became ill for 2-3 months, but recovered.  Again in August, Mary "took very ill, and after six or seven weeks of patient suffering, passed away from her life of hard work, worry, and sorry. She had no fear of death as she had given her best at all times to all with who she associated.  The last words she uttered were to God, Our Heavenly Father, pleading for him to take her.  He heard and answered her call, and in a few hours she departed from this life and those who were so dear to her to join many of her loved ones who had gone before.  She had many stumbling blocks in her way, but no matter who wronged her and made her suffer, her constant prayer all through her sickness was that we all forgive each other and that God, our Heavenly father, forgive us all." 

As for her plural marriage, her son Will wrote:  "She said she did not want him (Joseph Moulton) either in this life or the life to come as she had suffered so much through him."   Yet Will was also careful to make this disclaimer:  "We who have never been married in polygamy know little of what we would do if placed in their places.  ...So let us not be too hasty to say what we would do, or to judge others."

Jensine Marie Jensen was an amazing woman. Two scriptures I would associate with her life are:

Alma 36:27
And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me.

Philippians 4:13 
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

The LDS website (https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-and-families-in-early-utah) summarizes my personal feelings:

For many who practiced it, plural marriage was a significant sacrifice. Despite the hardships some experienced, the faithfulness of those who practiced plural marriage continues to benefit the Church in innumerable ways. Through the lineage of these 19th-century Saints have come many Latter-day Saints who have been faithful to their gospel covenants as righteous mothers and fathers, loyal disciples of Jesus Christ, and devoted Church members, leaders, and missionaries. Although members of the contemporary Church are forbidden to practice plural marriage, modern Latter-day Saints honor and respect these pioneers who gave so much for their faith, families, and community.

I am thankful I never had to live in the days of plural marriage.   It is a doctrine that I don't really understand but it obviously impacted my very existence.  I might not be here if Mary hadn't agreed to join Joseph Moulton in plural marriage in 1876.  I look forward to the day when I can personally give thanks to Mary Moulton for loving and forgiving Joseph Moulton and for raising such a fine man as my grandfather, Hyrum Chase Moulton (1884-1958).