We Do Not Doubt Our Mothers Lived It

An In-depth Look into the Lives of my Fifteen Polygamous Foremothers and their Sister-Wives

Authors

  • Darla Driggs Author

Keywords:

listen to the women, relationships with sister-wives, finding stories in the statistics, learning from our ancestors

Abstract

This paper examines the lives of fifteen nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint women and their sister-wives who entered plural marriage during the migration and settlement of the American West. Drawing on biographical statistics and family lore, it illuminates how these women negotiated faith, family, and frontier hardship within the evolving interpretations of covenantal marriage. Their stories reveal the complexities of women’s agency, adaptation, and endurance in shaping early Utah society and contribute to broader understandings of domestic life in frontier religious communities.

Author Biography

  • Darla Driggs

    Darla Driggs is an independent researcher and educator whose work explores women’s lived experiences within the historical practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. An eighth-generation member of the Church, she grew up immersed in family narratives that preserved the legacy of polygamy across generations. Motivated by a desire to better understand her feminine heritage, Driggs has conducted extensive genealogical and historical research on fifteen LDS foremothers, each of whom lived as a polygamous wife during the more than forty-five years the practice was sanctioned by the Church. She holds a degree in education from Brigham Young University and is the mother of six children.

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Published

2026-05-13

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2026): Journal of Mormon Polygamy

Section

Articles