Back in the summer of 1979 I went into a movie theater in Meadville PA and saw a movie about life in the founding years of the Mormons. It started out with the struggles they had just trying to stay alive in the primitive west. Then one winter the elders of the church had a problem in that a man who was married and had some young children died. They decided that they would chose someone who had a successful farm with a wife and kids and move the widow and her children into the successful farmers house and the widow would become an additional wife. One of the church leaders was very much against the idea, and it turned out that he was one of the first ones chosen to have to accept a widow and her children. They brought a widow and children to his house and knocked on his door and told him that from now on they were his responsibility.
There was a seen where an elderly married man with an elderly wife decided to take a second much younger wife, and the church elders stepped in and prevented that from happening.
And the very successful farmer who was one of the first to have to accept the responsibility of an additional wife and children to feed and house ended up having to accept many more over the years. I can't remember the number of wives he ended up with but I think it was something like 21 or 23 wives total. There was a seen where a big dance party was thrown and someone who was a representative of the federal government was there and that person was made aware of the man who had so many wives. He made a comment to the man with so many wives that he noticed that he had danced with one of his wives twice, and the man responded that that is his first wife.
The movie really brought up the point that back then polygamy was necessary for the survival of widows and their children in the rough country they lived in where there was no government system to support a widow and her children, and that the elders of the church chose who would have the added responsibility of taking them in and housing and feeding them.
I think the name of the movie was "Jeremiah Johnson the man with 23 wives" but I am not sure if I remember that name or the number of wives correctly.
Has anyone else on BITOG ever seen this movie and do you remember the correct name?
There was a seen where an elderly married man with an elderly wife decided to take a second much younger wife, and the church elders stepped in and prevented that from happening.
And the very successful farmer who was one of the first to have to accept the responsibility of an additional wife and children to feed and house ended up having to accept many more over the years. I can't remember the number of wives he ended up with but I think it was something like 21 or 23 wives total. There was a seen where a big dance party was thrown and someone who was a representative of the federal government was there and that person was made aware of the man who had so many wives. He made a comment to the man with so many wives that he noticed that he had danced with one of his wives twice, and the man responded that that is his first wife.
The movie really brought up the point that back then polygamy was necessary for the survival of widows and their children in the rough country they lived in where there was no government system to support a widow and her children, and that the elders of the church chose who would have the added responsibility of taking them in and housing and feeding them.
I think the name of the movie was "Jeremiah Johnson the man with 23 wives" but I am not sure if I remember that name or the number of wives correctly.
Has anyone else on BITOG ever seen this movie and do you remember the correct name?
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