E80: Tinseltown and the Curse of Beaver Island

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:19)
Before we get to the thrilling conclusion of the Strang Trilogy, a word from our friend's signature books.
When Joseph Smith founded the Church of Christ in 1830, he declared it to be God's restoration of true Christianity, the kingdom of God on earth. Although he foresaw opposition to such bold claims, he could not fathom that time and unforeseen circumstances would help to spawn hundreds of offshoots and competing denominations, all claiming their origins in a movement born and sustained originally by Smith and Sidney Rigdon. Many of these groups have endured and boast multiple congregations of believers in many countries. Others came and went quickly and have long since been forgotten. Some have survived, but have only appealed to a handful of believers. Steve Shields has for decades chronicled the various origins and paths of all known restoration movements. This fifth edition of his encyclopedic study includes recent groups born as internet communities. That so many groups and individuals have been unsatisfied with the more mainstream Mormon churches, yet cling to tenets of the Smith-Rigdon movement, speaks to the strengths of the restoration concept and the naive view that one denomination can successfully meet all the needs of believers.
Divergent Paths of the Restoration, an encyclopedia of the Smith-Rigdon movement by Stephen Shields, new from Signature Books. Get it from Benchmark Books or wherever you buy your Mormon books.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:51)
Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:53)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:54)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the Everlasting Hills, straight out of Zion. This isn't your grandpa's Mormon history.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:21)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners from our roots until present day.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:26)
Gird your loins, lock your hearts, and pay your tithing, because we're bringing you the story of Mormonism in all its paradisiacal glory.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:35)
It's the Sunstone History Podcast.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:56)
Welcome back for the third and final installment of String Wars.
Well, we can't offer you any Ewoks. What if we told you that as late as 1850s began, Strang was involved with several concubines on Beaver Island? How does that compare to Ewoks? I'm curious.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:15)
Um, hopefully less furry.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:17)
You never know.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:17)
You never know.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:18)
Poor Heracles. Wives were a little rough. Just kidding. They were not. He was rough. Um, concubines. I love that word, concubines.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:26)
It just sounds weird.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:29)
I feel like, you know, depending on the Mormon personality, depends on what they call plural marriage. You know, you've got some spiritual wife-ery, you've got some polygamy, you've got some celestial marriage. The higher law. What are the other names?

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:43)
Bonded marriage comes into this. I mean, you have all, I mean, we're even starting to use polyamory like the rest of the world.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:52)
Well, here, we're using the word concubines, and this term obviously harkening back all the way to the Hebrew Bible has always been a little bit of, I don't know, a puzzle for Christians. Harem. That's another one. That's another one. Generally speaking, it usually refers to a woman in a plural relationship that was of a lower social standing, and we called it celestial marriage.
This was sort of the case here. These women were having children with Strang, but apparently not publicly recognized as wives.
He did the concubine thing, huh?

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:29)
And Helen Marr was like, yeah, I know what that's like. Not the children part yet, but not being publicly recognized. So we did that in Navu also. And just as a teaser for later, George Buchanan was particularly interested in the idea of concubines and brought it up multiple times. And you'll understand why later.
Hopefully, that beginning will tip you off to the fact that the last period of Strang's life was going to be hopping. In July 1850, the faithful were invited to a major conference. They had some, let's say, unusual preparations for the conference. Everyone had to take the oath of the Illuminati. We mentioned this in our interview with Dr. Rosetti last time. They put their hand on a Bible and swore allegiance to Mr. James Strang, quote, the imperial primate and actual sovereign lord and king on earth, the true and lawful sovereign, wins over and in whatsoever kingdom, state or domain. Finally, just in case folks weren't totally clear on what the score was, they promised to, quote, yield obedience to the revelations he shall give and the decrees he shall make as the supreme law, above and superseding all laws, obligations, and mandates of any other person, authority or power whatsoever.