Romney family tree has polygamy branch

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church, the Republican presidential candidate's great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12.

Polygamy was not just a historical footnote, but a prominent element in the family tree of the former Massachusetts governor now seeking to become the first Mormon president.

Romney's great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife in 1897. That was more than six years after Mormon leaders banned polygamy and more than three decades after a federal law barred the practice.

Romney's great-grandmother, Hannah Hood Hill, was the daughter of polygamists. She wrote vividly in her autobiography about how she "used to walk the floor and shed tears of sorrow" over her own husband's multiple marriages.

Romney's great-great grandfather, Parley Pratt, an apostle in the church, had 12 wives. In an 1852 sermon, Parley Pratt's brother and fellow apostle, Orson Pratt, became the first church official to publicly proclaim and defend polygamy as a direct revelation from God.

Romney's father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, where Mormons fled in the 1800s to escape religious persecution and U.S. laws forbidding polygamy. He and his family did not return to the United States until 1912, more than two decades after the church issued "The Manifesto" banning polygamy.

"When you read the family's history, you realize how important polygamy was to them," said Todd Compton, a Mormon and independent historian who wrote a book about the polygamous life of the church's founder, Joseph Smith. "They left America and started again as pioneers, after they had done it over and over again previously."

B. Carmon Hardy, a polygamy expert and retired history professor at California State University-Fullerton, said polygamy was "a very important part of Miles Park Romney's family."

Hardy added: "Now, very gradually, as you moved farther away from it, it became less a part of it. But during the time of Miles Park Romney, it was an essential principle of the Romney family life."

Other Mormons have run for the White House, including Romney's father in 1968 and Sen. Orrin Hatch (news, bio, voting record), R-Utah, in 2000. But Mitt Romney's stature as a leading 2008 contender has renewed questions about his faith and its doctrines.

At the same time, polygamy remains a part of current events.

HBO is airing a television series, "Big Love," that features a man in Utah — where the Mormon church is based — with three wives. Self-proclaimed "Mormon fundamentalist" Warren Jeffs, formerly on the FBI's 10 most wanted list, is facing multiple felony charges for sex crimes related to underage marriages among members of his breakaway church's 10,000 members in Utah and Arizona, who openly practice polygamy.

Romney has joked about polygamy, saying in various settings that to him, "marriage is between a man and a woman ... and a woman and a woman." But in serious moments he has called the practice "bizarre" and noted his church excommunicates those who engage in it.

An introductory film played at his fundraisers and campaign appearances features his wife, Ann, talking about their 37-year marriage. Romney himself notes they started as high school sweethearts.

This month, Ann Romney tried a different tack, taking a lighthearted jab at her husband's main Republican competitors, Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as she introduced Romney at a Missouri GOP dinner.

The biggest difference between her husband and the other candidates, Ann Romney said, is that "he's had only one wife."

McCain has been married twice; Giuliani three times.

The Romney campaign had no comment for this story.

Joseph Smith, who founded the Mormon church in 1830, quietly introduced polygamy. He believed it had roots in the Old Testament and was necessary to reach the highest salvation in heaven. Smith is believed to have had 33 wives.

Brigham Young expanded the practice after the church's migration from the Midwest to Utah, which began in 1846. He is said to have had 55 wives. Historical texts show Young also asked Orson Pratt to publicly proclaim the church's belief in polygamy in 1852.

In 1862, while Utah was a territory, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, banning plural marriage. In 1882, Congress also passed the Edmunds Act, an anti-polygamy law. That was followed in 1887 by the Edmunds-Tucker Act, which disincorporated the church and threatened to seize its nonreligious real estate as part of the crackdown on polygamy.

In 1890, Mormon President Wilford Woodruff issued "The Manifesto," in which he declared the church no longer taught or permitted plural marriages.

Nonetheless, the law of polygamy — Smith's revelation that God authorized polygamy — remains in Article 132 of the church's Doctrine and Covenants. In addition, Mormon widowers who remarry today believe they will live in eternity with their multiple wives.

Mormon genealogical records, among the most detailed and complete of any religion, show that two of Mitt Romney's great-great grandfathers, Miles Romney and Parley Pratt, had 12 wives each.

Compton, the polygamy scholar, disputes that. He believes Miles Romney only had one wife because the records do not show the dates for his other 11 marriages or any offspring from them.

Miles Romney and his one clearly documented wife, Elizabeth Gaskell, had 10 children. Among them was Miles Park Romney, one of Mitt Romney's great-grandfathers.

Miles Park Romney had five wives. With his first wife, Hannah Hood Hill, he had 11 children. Among them was Gaskell Romney, Mitt Romney's paternal grandfather.

Hannah Hood Hill's autobiography offers an eyewitness account of the Romney family's polygamous past. Hardy, the Cal-State historian, found it amid research for his upcoming book, "Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy."

Hood Hill wrote of Miles Park Romney: "I felt that was more than I could endure, to have him divide his time and affections from me. I used to walk the floor and shed tears of sorrow. If anything will make a woman's heart ache, it is for her husband to take another wife. ... But I put my trust in my heavenly father, and prayed and pleaded with him to give me strength to bear this great trial."

Miles Park Romney's final marriage, to Emily Eyring Smith, came in 1897, more than six years after "The Manifesto."

Gaskell Romney, Mitt Romney's grandfather, was not a polygamist. He married Anna Amelia Pratt, the daughter of polygamists and the granddaughter of Parley Pratt, the apostle with 12 wives. Their marriage took place Feb. 20, 1895, in Dublan, Mexico.

Gaskell Romney had moved to Mexico with his parents in 1884 amid the proliferation of U.S. laws prohibiting "unlawful cohabitation." Anna Pratt was born in Utah, but had emigrated to Mexico and lived in one of nine Mormon colonies established over the border.

Gaskell Romney and Anna Pratt had seven children, including George Wilcken Romney, the former Michigan governor. He lived with his parents in Mexico until 1912, when the family returned to the United States.

George Romney married Lenore LaFount, who does not appear to have polygamy in her family tree. The couple, now deceased, had four children, including Mitt Romney.

___

Associated Press writer Glen Johnson reported from Boston.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070225/ap_on_el_pr/romney_polygamy [link]

[motivez]

I'm going to be incredibly surprised if he makes it very far in the primary process. Some poll out not too long ago showed something like 43% of America wouldn't vote for a Mormon under any circumstances...

[Scrum]

Polygamy bothers me a lot less than some of the other things those people believe in.

[motivez]

It doesn't bother me at all either, what kind of relationships consenting adults decide to have with each other is perfectly fine with me.

But this isn't going to play well with the conservative evangelical base.

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by motivez

But this isn't going to play well with the conservative evangelical base.

Yeah, not much about being mormon will play well with them.

My Mom is an evangelical (democrat thank xenu) and she pretty much considers them a cult.

[Diamond Cross]

what the hell?

They have to go all the way back to his great great great greaqt gtreat great great great great great great grandpappy just to slander him?

That's how desparate they are to slander him to makie him look like a fool?

So what?

I hate these kinds of politics.

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by Diamond Cross

what the hell?

They have to go all the way back to his great great great greaqt gtreat great great great great great great grandpappy just to slander him?

That's how desparate they are to slander him to makie him look like a fool?

So what?

I hate these kinds of politics.

How is bio information on a candidate slander?

[Diesel66]

Originally Posted by Scrumtralecent

How is bio information on a candidate slander?

because who his great-grandfather married has nothing to do with him.

[7960]

Originally Posted by Ron Burgundy

[p]AP - While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church, the Republican presidential candidate's great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12.

So?

One of my cousins murdered someone. Does that say anything about me?

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by motivez

But this isn't going to play well with the conservative evangelical base.

He hasn't from the start

In fact, the evangelicals are desperately seeking a candidate they like.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by Diesel66

because who his great-grandfather married has nothing to do with him.

Uh, it's biographical information on the history of his family and relates directly to the religion he practices.

It has everything to do with him. It's not an attack, I find it interesting that someone would be defensive about it.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by 7960

So?

One of my cousins murdered someone. Does that say anything about me?

That you're related to a murderer?

It doesn't speak to your character or reflect negatively on you IMO, it's factual information the same way this stuff is.

The difference is that he's an actively practicing Mormon, and for better or worse polygamy is a large part of that religion even if he doesn't subscribe to it.

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by motivez

and for better or worse polygamy is a large part of that religion even if he doesn't subscribe to it.

Not all Mormons...in fact a very small portion of them, kind of like a small percentage of Muslims are terrorists

[7960]

Originally Posted by motivez

That you're related to a murderer?

It doesn't speak to your character or reflect negatively on you IMO, it's factual information the same way this stuff is.

But there's only one reason it's brought up and that's to try to associate that person with something bad that someone else has done. Obviously it's factual, but what purpose is there in bringing up that one of my cousins murdered someone? We all know exactly the purpose...to get people to think "murderer" or "murderer in his family" when they think of me. Who gives a shit? *I* didn't do it, *I* said he belongs in jail, but people keep trying to tie me to him/his actions. It's a cheap shot.

The difference is that he's an actively practicing Mormon, and for better or worse polygamy is a large part of that religion even if he doesn't subscribe to it.

"...a large part"??? Hardly. The only reason anyone is saying anything is because they want prospective voters to think "polygamy" or "family supports polygamy" when they think of him. It's a political cheap shot and he should call them on it. He should get up behind a microphone and give the "those without sin cast the first stone" speech.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Scrum

Yeah, not much about being mormon will play well with them.

My Mom is an evangelical (democrat thank xenu) and she pretty much considers them a cult.

You don't have to be a christian to think that. He can try and play the idea that he is the candidiate of "faith" but you can hide a controversial religion under a bushel!

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by 7960

But there's only one reason it's brought up and that's to try to associate that person with something bad that someone else has done. Obviously it's factual, but what purpose is there in bringing up that one of my cousins murdered someone? We all know exactly the purpose...to get people to think "murderer" or "murderer in his family" when they think of me. Who gives a shit? *I* didn't do it, *I* said he belongs in jail, but people keep trying to tie me to him/his actions. It's a cheap shot.

What if his grandfather developed a cure for typhoid? Should that not be brought up either?

[7960]

Originally Posted by Scrum

What if his grandfather developed a cure for typhoid? Should that not be brought up either?

does it have any relevance to his candidacy?

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by motivez

Uh, it's biographical information on the history of his family and relates directly to the religion he practices.

While I understand the logic about false guilt by association I must agree with Motivez on this one. You cannot seperate the man from the religion or simply write this off as some odd practice of a few fanatics. Not when he runs for office on his religious faith.

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by 7960