My Response to A Mormon Mother

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

A Mormon Mother: The LDS Struggle between Education and Obedience

Annie Clark Tanner[s] house 291 West State, Farmington, Utah (http://clarklane.org/AnnieClark.html)

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My Response to A Mormon Mother

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

As a follower of the LDS religion who has been a member since birth, I was quite interested on the viewpoint of Annie Clark. I believe her son was right when he said that though painful for [him] to concede, the evidence is rather overwhelming that Annie Clark Tanners life was tragic[;] At least in regards to his own perspective. LDS polygamy has been a topic upon which many have shared their opinion, according to the vantage point from which they have viewed the practice. On the opposite spectrum, however, I believe Annie Clark tanner would oppose her son, but, at the same time agree with him. Life was hard for her, but in that harshness she found blessings that allowed her to justify her happiness later in life; her greatest sadness was that her church had to suffer because a belief (polygamy) was being lived against the wishes of an oppressive government.2 Annie was the daughter of a polygamous father, Ezra T. Clark, 3 who grew up in Farmington, Utah, in the secondary home of a secondary wife.4 In 1864, the year of her birth,5 polygamy had been instituted for twelve years,6 and as she grew up, her mother had been teaching her the principle of obedience; it dominated the teachings of my girlhood, whether it applied to the home, the State, or the Church.7 There is a sense of duty from the early stages of Annies life, an understanding of her mothers nature, who like so many young mothers loved to give orders, especially to the older children.8 Although Annie states that volumes could be written about the struggles of polygamy,9 she defends her father as the exemplary polygamist husband, a point of view that also influenced

2 3

P. 82 LDS members believed that only by living the concept could the highest level of salvation be obtained (p.13) 4 Annies mother, twenty three at marriage, was fifteen years younger than her husband (p. 4) 5 P. 1 (assuming that this paper is a response to a single book, all pages or references will be taken from said book unless otherwise stated) 6 1852, according to p. 22 7 P. 2 8 P. 5 9 P. 24

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My Response to A Mormon Mother

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

her later decision to marry into the practice; her father favored her, and her memories often recall how he would buy anything [she] desired.10 Furthermore, there was an egalitarian aspect to the wives of her father, who owned houses on the same street11 alongside other family members. Certainly, it was not an unhappy childhood that drove O. C. Tanner to state that his mother had experience tragedy. Although, it was very early that Annie realized that there was a difference amongst LDS members. Partly due to The Reformation of 1873,12 there arose in the Church Liberals,13 who sought an education to enhance their religious belief, and the Orthodox, who were extremists.14 These ideas, alongside a respect for the first family, as she would call the first wife and children of a polygamous man,15 imbued Annie with a sense of independence that allowed her to justify her future husbands long absences, as well as an understanding of his religious extremism; though at the beginning of the relationship and, really, the reason for the marriage, was as sense of Liberal understanding of the world on the part of her husband. As a young woman, Annie initially believed that the Latter -day Saints were the only people who had eternal truth, though avid reading quickly allowed her to see otherwise.16 At the age of sixteen, around 1879, Annie attended university also being asked by Aurelia Spencer Rogers to help with the Primary Association, an organization for children in the church organized by the latter.17 Despite these seemingly orthodox practices, Annie was growing up a Liberal LDS; this liberalism was emphasized by her attendance to the Brigham Young

10 11

P. 7 A street now called Clark Lane, after her fathers family line, considered the cultural center of Farmington 12 P. 25 13 Annies father had taught her that God teaches correct principles and the people govern themselves. (p. 30) and idea that will resonate with Annie throughout her entire life 14 P .12 15 P. 10 16 P.37 17 P.39

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My Response to A Mormon Mother

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

Academy in 1882 and 1883.18 In lieu of her education however, and her home life, she decided to marry a professor at said university, Joseph Marion Tanner, though he was a comparative stranger to [her].19 It seems clear, according to her own writings, that Annies education was as important to her as her belief. As he questions polygamy and its usefulness, she will come to find out about evolution,20 male chauvinism,21 and the possible mythological origins of the Bible.22 It seems she would have thought Joseph as liberal as she was becoming, but in this she was utterly wrong. Based on her upbringing and understanding, Annie married Joseph Tanner on December 1883,23 when she was nineteen years old; he turned out to be nothing like her father had been and, despite her experiences with his first wife (Annie had politely asked her first before contracting marriage)24 they were practically strangers. Joseph would write to Annie initially, but very early in the relationship he demonstrated his Orthodoxy by asserting his male right to rule.25 During the initial years of marriage, there was not much interaction between Annie and her husband; he went to Europe after his third marriage, in 1884 26 and never told her of the courtship or marriage until it was all said and done. Cohabitation laws, passed in 1882 under the Edmunds law,27 warranted all be done in secret, but Annie, who consulted with Josephs first wife prior to marriage, seems to have had a sense of offense at this third marriage, though she got along with her husbands first wife without any problems. The problems of her life begin here, as

18 19

P. 47 P.49 20 P. 58 21 P.60-62 in which she gives an explanation about how this is not so, in the eyes of psychologists, and yet shows understanding of Mr. Tanners position 22 P. 59 23 P.65-6 24 P.63 25 P. 69 26 P. 73 27 P. 75; her father would be arrested in 1886 (p. 76-7)

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Juan A. Caballero Prieto

she contracted an illegal marriage, to a husband unlike her father, with wives unlike her mother. Annie enjoyed many liberties until her husband returned from his mission in 1888.28 At that time, it was clear the Joseph was indeed a stranger to her. Upon her husbands return, Annie was forced, for the first time, outside of the familiarity of Farmington; being pregnant of four months and unable to pass as Ms. Clark29 Annie was forced to hide her pregnancy by moving around the state, even out of it at times. During this time, whenever possible, Joseph would visit her. Annie would state that this period, four and a half years after her marriage, felt like a honeymoon.30 In an interesting turn of events, once her daughter had been born, in August 11th, 1889, the president of the Church, Wilford Woodruff was visiting her house, and Annie would not dare telling him the daughter she was so idly playing with was hers.31 The previous year had proved morally confusing for Mrs. Tanner. At this time, mandatory property seizing of LDS property by the US Government had been threatened against LDS temples in 1889, a process begun by the taking over of the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company of the Church of Jesus Christ. Right after she obtained a home, in 1890, and giving birth to her second son, Myron in September of that year, on the 24th of that same month, the LDS churched announced, via a president in exile, that the LDS should refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land.32 Up until this moment Annie has described her experience as impossible to express in feelings and felt thankful to the Lord for the blessings she had.33 The decree of the Church, via its leader, now had Annie openly against the matter.34 After leaving in Cambridge, MA for a time, and after having another
28 29

P. 101; she was now twenty-four P. 102 30 P. 107; they would not spend a Christmas together until December 1887 31 P. 110-1 32 P. 129 33 P. 122 34 P. 129

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Juan A. Caballero Prieto

son there, Herschel, in 1893, she returned to Utah once Joseph decided to discontinue his studies. Annie had appreciated the quiet demeanor of the New Englanders, and arriving in Utah, and having people ask her personal questions she said sure enough, we are in the West.35 In this same year, after ten years of marriage, and thanks to her father, Annie was able to obtain a home for herself and her growing family. She would have her children LeVinz (August 13th, 1895), Kneland (June 8th, 1898), Belva (May 9th, 1897 died at two weeks old) and Sheldon (May 29th, 1900).36 It was during this time, with the now unjustified absences of her husband and the help of her father, that Annie began to question the propriety of the principle and its ethics; she admits that she had never looked at it objectively.37 Yet, she did not question her love for her husband, as she states that while no one should go through the experiences she had (of moving around and living on other peoples home) she was happily married so far as happiness goes in a polygamous marriage.38 Again with the help of her father, in 1901, Annie built a new home on the lot in which the old one which she had upon returning to Farmington had previously laid; she received a thousand dollars from her father for the purpose, and the house on the cover of this paper was built.39 The house, built with no help from her husband, was a symbol of Annies independency, a standard of her belief, and she commanded it. No work was too small for the family, and as Mr. Tanner became one of the foremost educators in Utah, twins Lois and Leah were born on May 6th, 1902. Joseph insisted the children learned to work, and Annie was not opposed to that principle, she reared her children to do labor, something that would drive their education in the

35 36

P. 140 PP. 146-7 37 P. 151 38 P. 152 39 P. 155

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My Response to A Mormon Mother

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

future.40 However, with the death of her father in 1901, her mother in 1902 and the birth of her tenth and last child in 1904, Annie, after twenty-one years of marriage, found herself at the will of her husband; she will make the comment that while Mr. Tanner was an inspiration for other mens children to an education, he somehow managed to get his own children away from it.41 This idea is the beginning of an erosion of both happiness and circumstances for Annie that will result in her divorce from Mr. Tanner. In the meantime however, the narrative changes from her own experiences to that of her children. Annie now narrates how hard it was to be both father and mother to her children. Relating of her boys need to be away from home, to her need to obey her husband even when he was away, she related the loss of one of the twins, Leah, to measles in 1905 (when the twins were only three years old). Annie blamed her blind obedience the church principles of male dominance; she describes Leahs death as a needless tragedy which was a price to be paid for the tradition of that day.42 It seems that at this time, Annie decided she would not lose another child to this blind obedience, and that she would do everything she could for her children, to make sure they were safe, and obtained an education. As she made her resolution, Mr. Tanner sought a farm in Canada, and Mrs. Tanner turned over all of her property, included that inherited from her father, except the house built without any help from Mr. Tanner, that house was comfortable, and after years of wondering in houses of others, Mrs. Tanner was not about to give it up. However, her principle of obedience pushed her on, and she had a meeting with her bishop, who assured her that the home was the only thing keeping her children safe, and that it was not wise to give it up until Mr. Tanner secured some

40 41

P. 157 P. 162 42 P. 169

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Juan A. Caballero Prieto

holding in Canada.43 The house, as stated, became a symbol of her independence even to Mr. Tanner, a foothold in Annies life that would resonate amongst her children, and allow the practically destitute family to survive throughout the years. As time went on, Mrs Tanner would have to quarrel with Mr. Tanner for the education of her children, refusing to give up her Farmington home or to send all of her able children to Canada, while trying to push them to go to school in Salt Lake City. In 1906, she wrote that Jennie, her oldest, was more a confidant than Mr. Tanner, who was now chronically absent from Utah.44 Admittedly, during this period, Annie had little or no money available, trying to get it from where she could, to support her children, get them to go to school. In 1911, another request from Mr. Tanner to sell the Farmington house was made, as he requested the older children attend the Canada farm. The boys, 21, 18, 16, 13, 11, and 7 all supported their mother and opposed their fathers plan, so Mr. Tanner was denied en masse.45 During a brief stay in Provo, Annie educated herself further in regards to the Bible and its historical logic, as well as the possibility that the stories in the text were not literally true.46 The liberal education that she, and most certainly her children also, were receiving, was only, in the eyes of Annie, a test of their belief. Like the Hebrews gospel she wrote our, too, has been evolutionary. On the contrary, Mr. Tanner had married three more wives after 1890, directly going not only against government law, but also Gods law. This created a separation that Annie could not bestride, and Mr. Tanner also lost the favor of the church for his refusal to give up polygamy.47 This, along with the distant separation, the years alone, the refusal to give up the Farmington home, and, above all, the education of the children, resulted in one fateful
43 44

P. 173 P. 186 45 Jennie, the eldest, had now been married for three years (p. 188) 46 P. 216-7 47 P. 222-3

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My Response to A Mormon Mother

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

morning in 1912 on which Mr. Tanner stated that he would not come back to Farmington, and without further ado left Mrs. Tanner. Annie was now Ms. Clark again, after twenty-nine years of polygamy, she was left by the man who was supposed to have taken care of her for time and all eternity; she wrote that after the separation she made no argument for the defense of the principle of polygamy. 48 Now she could freely focus on the education of the children. As Annies children were married, 49 and experienced losses of their own, Annie would emulate not the behavior of Mr. Tanner, but that of her father. She would do anything and everything possible to keep them fed and clothed. Family unity comes out of the pores at the end of the book, as the children all realize the futility of the farm in Canada and the necessity of education. Annie wrote that their success was all [she] had,50 and thus she made it her own. Joseph Tanner, sometime in 1916 would remark that the children dont know the first letter in the word obedience; to which Annie replied, with a tone of mockery, that is strange, they suit me just fine. Annies liberalism had now been fully realized, and Mr. Tanner had no hope of recovering it. The death of Jennie in 192351 marked the end of an epoch for Annie and her children. They had tested the limits of their religion, with confidence in the fact that it would last the test of comparison to others.52 Now, with the death of one so close to them, and the realization of their independence, the death of in 1927 was the final liberation for the family. Highly respected by those closest to him and his circle of immediate friends, Herschel and the other boys ensured he had a grand funeral in Salt Lake City.53
48 49

P. 237 Myron in 1912, Herschel in 1913 (p. 240), LeVinz and Kneland in April and May of 1920 respectively (p. 296), Sheldon in 1922 (p. 297) 50 P. 251 51 P. 306 52 P. 310 53 P 312-4

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My Response to A Mormon Mother

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

Fourteen years after the fact, in 1941, the last year of her life, Annie wrote the words of her biography for her immediate family. A woman travelled thanks to her children, who had all been successful and were scattered all over the country doing great things. Annie took pride in what they had accomplished, and remembered one of her visits to Sheldon in Cambridge, MA, where his father used to attend; he was now a renowned professor invited her to a presidents reception. Annie, wearing an evening dress for the first time, wrote of having a vague consciousness on the contrast in being a Nobody when a professors plural wife, and a Somebody as a professors mother.54 The thought puts a finishing touch on an amazing life. As Annie herself would say the past is a story of struggle.55 Not because hers was a particularly hard story, but because in order to value where we are, we need to have gone through some struggles in our lives. As she wondered, maybe sometimes we need to be denied things in order to appreciate them when we have them.56 These struggles had help her become a stronger woman, and to face the future with courage.57 Thus, I do not believe Annie Clark Tanner viewed her life as tragic; she saw LDS polygamy as a source of strength and blessing. Annie would oppose her son, but, at the same time agree with him. Life was hard for her, though in that harshness herself, and that allowed her to justify her happiness later in life. Annie Clark was a successful polygamist, despite her divorce, and knowing that helped her understand how the process had come about, and why it had gone. In the end, what A Mormon Mother tells us about polygamy is that it nearly destroyed a system of belief that teaches people that life is bearable even at its worst, and that in order to save said belief, the Church gave up what prevented it from progress, the belief in Plural

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P. 320-1 P.330 56 P. 123 57 P. 236

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My Response to A Mormon Mother

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

Marriage. Annie, Joseph, and the rest of the men and women in this book, are nothing more than the product of the time and place in which they were born into, and we should judge them accordingly.

Juan A. Caballero Prieto

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