Crafting a Sacred Story: Joseph F. Smith and the William Clayton Affidavits

Authors

  • Cheryl L. Bruno Independent Historian Author
  • Michelle B. Stone Independent Historian Author

Keywords:

Plural Marriage, Joseph F. Smith, William Clayton, Mormon Polygamy, 1869 Affidavits

Abstract

The story of Joseph Smith and plural marriage is one of the most contested and carefully constructed narratives in Mormon history, centered not only on the practice itself but on the struggle to document and define its meaning. Facing a lack of direct evidence linking Joseph Smith to polygamy, Joseph F. Smith, a young Apostle of the Utah Church, began collecting affidavits from individuals willing to testify about their experiences with Nauvoo polygamy. Central to this effort were the writings of William Clayton, Joseph Smith’s personal scribe, whose fragmented accounts were shaped by Joseph F. into a unified narrative that served the institutional needs of the Church. This paper examines Joseph F. Smith’s role in actively constructing a cohesive account of polygamy, highlighting how his efforts influenced the framing of Church history and the broader implications for interpreting these affidavits as independent testimonies versus institutional artifacts designed to defend and legitimize the Church’s position on polygamy.

Author Biographies

  • Cheryl L. Bruno, Independent Historian

    Cheryl L. Bruno has a B.S. in Recreation Management from Greensboro College, Greensboro, N.C., and did graduate work in Educational Psychology at Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. She is an independent researcher in Mormon studies, with an interest in the intersection of Mormonism and Freemasonry, Mormon esotericism and Mormon plural marriage. Cheryl is the author of Method Infinite: Freemasonry and the Mormon Restoration with Joe Steve Swick III and Nicholas S. Literski and the author of Come Up Hither to Zion: William Marks and the Mormon Concept of Gathering. She is editor of Secret Covenants: New Insights on Mormon Polygamy. Her publications can be found in the Journal of Religion and Society, the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal, and the Journal of Mormon History. 

  • Michelle B. Stone, Independent Historian

    Michelle Brady Stone attended BYU for four years where she studied Music/Dance/Theater and English Composition. She is the mother of thirteen children (11 living) whom she has educated at home. She has served as a mentor to parents and has presented at numerous conferences. Her lecture series, "Celestial Education" has been viewed by tens of thousands of parents. More recently, in 2022 she began her podcast and youtube channel, "132 Problems: Revisiting Mormon Polygamy," where she has shared her ongoing research into various aspects of polygamy. has become wildly popular with over 1.5 million views and 116,000 subscribers on youtube alone. She is committed to platforming voices of all aspects and perspectives of the polygamy discussion, as well as religious and social issues in general. 

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Published

2025-04-01 — Updated on 2025-04-01

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2025): Journal of Mormon Polygamy

Section

Articles