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In April 1841, Smith secretly wed Louisa Beaman as a plural wife, and during the next two and a half years he may have married thirty additional women, ten of whom were already married to other men [243] and about a third of them teenagers, including two fourteen-year-old girls.[244] Meanwhile he publicly and repeatedly denied that he advocated polygamy.[245] Smith told his potential wives that marriage to him would ensure their spiritual exaltation.[246] Although Smith's first wife Emma may have known about some of these marriages, she almost certainly did not know the extent of Smith's polygamous activities.[247] Smith kept the doctrine of plural marriage secret except for potential wives and a few of his closest male associates,[248] including Bennett. Smith's plural relationships were preceded by a "priesthood marriage", which Smith believed legitimized the relationships and made them non-adulterous. Bennett, on the other hand, ignored even perfunctory ceremonies.[249] When embarrassing rumors of "spiritual wifely" got abroad, Smith forced Bennett's resignation as Nauvoo mayor. In retaliation, Bennett wrote "lurid exposes of life in Nauvoo."[250]
That's just one paragraph from the kipped. Make of that what you will.
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