Heber Grant--Polygamy

Heber was determined to achieve all the goals he had set for himself. He determined that he had weak social skills and set out to improve himself. Dancing was a challenge, but eventually became one of his favorite activities. He even helped organized dances and used these opportunities to search for a wife. As he dated, he became interested in Emily Wells, the daughter of Daniel H. Wells, a prominent leader in the Church. They had much in common and it appeared that they might marry. They discovered, however, that they disagreed about the practice of plural marriage. Heber had come from a family that had practiced it and was surprised at some of the sarcastic comments Emily made about it. He asked the Lord in prayer about continuing to pursue Emily’s affections and was surprised by the negative answer he strongly received. He shed some very bitter tears because he had admired her so deeply. But then his attentions were drawn to Lucy Stringham. (See Gibbons, Heber J. Grant, 29–31.)

“Heber’s first overtures to Lucy were met with a response that could hardly be called enthusiastic. He started by walking her home from Sunday evening meetings, a frequently used courting device of the day. It was customary, however, for the young lady to invite her escort to join her in the family sitting room, where they could engage in serious or flirtatious talk and perhaps enjoy some refreshments, all under the careful scrutiny of the girl’s parents. Sunday after Sunday, however, instead of receiving a hoped-for invitation into the Stringham sitting room, Heber received a somewhat indifferent, even chilly, ‘good night’ at Stringham’s gate. That he was not deterred by this unencouraging treatment is still another evidence of Heber J. Grant’s characteristic perseverance.

“The turning point in this tepid courtship occurred one Sunday evening when Rodney C. Badger walked past the Stringham’s gate just as Heber received his customary ‘good night’ from Lucy. As these two friends walked together to the corner, Heber, instead of turning south toward his home, told Rodney, ‘I’m going down to Wells corner and visit with some of the girls there.’

“Whether Rodney planted a seed in Lucy’s mind or mere chance intervened, the very next Sunday Heber received an invitation into the Stringham sitting room, where he became almost a fixture until the time of his marriage to Lucy a few months later. It turned out that Lucy’s initial reluctance came not from a lack of feeling for the great man she was later to marry, but from the false notion that she was merely a temporary substitute for Emily Wells.“Shocked at what he interpreted as fickleness, Rodney chided Heber for leaving one girl only to go in search of other female companionship. Rodney appeared satisfied, however, when Heber explained Lucy’s distant attitude toward him.

“Once the ice was broken and Lucy realized that Heber had matrimony in view, their courtship sped toward its inevitable culmination. They were married in the St. George Temple on November 1, 1877, three weeks prior to Heber’s twenty-first birthday” (Gibbons, Heber J. Grant, 32–33).

Later, in 1884, with Lucy’s full approval, Heber married Hulda Augusta Winters and Emily Wells.

Me: 1884 is 6 years before the Manfesto on Plural Marriage