The William Clayton Deception

Thanks to everyone for your input.  A couple of you asked about William Clayton and his purported records regarding polygamy originating with Joseph Smith.  For example, Janet wrote: 
 

"I have read your Blog, 'Confessions of an Elder' and find it very interesting and intriguing.  I would love to know how you reconcile William Clayton’s diary where he says Joseph Smith told him that he was privileged to have all the wives he wanted and that Joseph married Margaret Moon to William, she being his 2nd wife.   It is his diary that is used as proof that Joseph did teach these things in secret.  If you have a rebuttal or explanation, I would love to hear it.  I have been bothered many years by this mess and personally would absolutely love it if Joseph’s name could be cleared from the 'Celestial Marriage doctrine.'"

 

The short answer to your question is simple – William Clayton is a despicable liar. 

Together, William Clayton and Brigham Young fabricated D&C Section 132 and falsely claimed that Joseph revealed the doctrine.  Supposedly, William Clayton was the lone scribe and surviving witness to the circumstances and writing of Section 132.  However, D&C Section 132 was produced eight years after Joseph’s death and was in Clayton’s (not Joseph’s) handwriting.  There is no court in the world that would allow that piece of “evidence” into a courtroom.  If William Clayton fabricated D&C Section 132, which has to be a pretty big damn sin in the eyes of God, then he most assuredly fabricated his journal entries which were written long after Joseph’s death. 

As I indicated before, falsifying records was VERY common with Brigham Young and his followers.  On April 1, 1845, Brigham Young admittedly recorded the following:  "I commenced revising the History of Joseph Smith at Brother Richard's office:  Elder Heber C. Kimball and George A. Smith were with me."

Willard Richards wrote in Joseph Smith’s diary that Joseph “gave instructions to try those who were preaching, teaching, or practicing the doctrine of plurality of wives . . . Joseph forbids it and the practice thereof.  No man shall have but one wife.” 

Historian Van Wagoner commented:  “When incorporating Smith’s journal into the History of the Church, church leaders, under Brigham Young’s direction, deleted ten key words from this significant passage and added forty-nine others so that it now reads:  “Gave instructions to try those persons who were preaching, teaching, or practicing the doctrine of plurality of wives; for, according to the law, I hold the keys of this power in the last days; for there is never but one on earth at a time on whom the power and its keys are conferred and I have constantly said no man shall have but one wife at a time, unless the Lord directs otherwise.” 

Charles W. Penrose, a member of the First Presidency, admitted that after Joseph Smith’s death some changes were made in the official record “for prudential reasons.”

Personal journal entries were also falsified.  No affidavits, sworn statements, or journal entries, including William Claytons’, were made during the life of Joseph Smith showing that Joseph Smith was engaged in polygamy.  The journal entries, including Helen Mar Kimball’s, were written many years later.  For example, Mary Lightner’s (an alleged plural wife of Joseph Smith) affidavit was published by historian Fawn Brodie, who wrote:  “Curiously, [Mary Lightner] makes no mention of her marriage to Joseph in her autobiography . . .”

When D&C Section 132 was introduced (under VERY questionable circumstances) into the D&C, Section 101 was altered.  Section 101 (1835 edition) formerly stated:  "Inasmuch as this church has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy; we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband."  That part just had to be removed.

I ask you to ponder the following two questions.

Do you believe William Clayton? 

Clayton said that on July 12, 1843, when Joseph Smith fully revealed D&C Section 132, for the inane purpose of convincing Emma of the truth of polygamy, Joseph just happened to ask Clayton to act as Joseph’s scribe (no one ever explained why Joseph would need a scribe) and create the original copy of the purported revelation, even though Joseph supposedly said he was about to write the revelation down.   

According to Clayton:

"Joseph then said, 'Well, I [i.e., Joseph] will write the revelation and we will see.'  He then requested me to get paper and prepare to write.  Hyrum very urgently requested Joseph to write the revelation by means of the Urim and Thummim, but Joseph, in reply, said he did not need to, for he knew the revelation perfectly from beginning to end.  Joseph and Hyrum then sat down, and Joseph commenced to dictate the Revelation on Celestial Marriage, and I wrote it, sentence by sentence, as he dictated." 

Before Hyrum (and Joseph apparently) took the "revelation" (in Clayton's handwriting) to Emma, Clayton fortuitously  and inexplicably caused Joseph C. Kingsbury, the store clerk for Bishop Whitney, to make a second copy of the revelation (of course, this never happened at any other time).  It is the supposed Kingsbury copy that exists today.

Emma supposedly became so upset about the doctrine, in Clayton's handwriting, that she seized it from Hyrum and tossed it into a fire.  It was just so fortunate that Clayton had created a second copy – I guess some would claim that it was a miracle. 

Now here’s the really crazy part.  The revelation was so unimportant that Brigham put the Kingsbury copy into his desk drawer and forgot about it.  Strangely, Joseph and Hyrum both never mentioned the Section 132 revelation or Emma’s destruction of the original copy. 

Even though Joseph and Hyrum both knew the original bearing Clayton's handwriting had been burnt by Emma, Joseph and Hyrum were simply unconcerned with making the revelation known to everyone else (think about it . . . they lived for almost another year – and yet never mentioned it anywhere).  Then eight years after Joseph’s death, Brigham happened to find the Kingsbury copy (of Clayton's dictation) in Brigham’s long forgotten desk drawer and finally but dutifully released it to the members.  Of course, Brigham had to also simultaneously but quietly amend Section 101's prohibition of polygamy as the "rule of marriage" (since that was such an unimportant matter – it didn’t require any formal revelation to amend it). 

Or do you believe Emma Smith? 

Emma vehemently denied until her death, even under oath, ever seeing Section 132.  Emma said she never saw or burned a copy of the document as claimed by Brigham Young and William Clayton.  Emma loved and defended Hyrum until the day that she died (even naming her son Hyrum as well). 

 

Up to this time, I have been relatively kind to those that believe Young and Clayton.  After writing this, I have to say rather forcefully, that anyone who believes Clayton’s and Young’s preposterous story, which has every telltale sign of a deliberate lie and fabrication, over Emma’s defense is gullible.  Because Young and Clayton fabricated Section 132 to support their abominable and adulterous polygamous practice while falsely claiming that Joseph revealed it (pretty much one of the biggest sins I have heard of), Brigham Young and William Clayton deserve to forever be known as contemptible liars of the highest magnitude.

For further investigation, see the following link:

 

http://restorationbookstore.org/articles/nopoligamy/jsfp-visionarticles/hsfp.htm.