The Secret Life of a Plural Wife: Gossip and Community Witnessing of Polygamy

In the spring of 1899, Maggie carried a secret that her body could not help but reveal. During the previous summer, she had covertly married the polygamous businessman David Eccles as his third wife, and now she was about to give birth to their son. Instead of having her confinement in her small-town home like most women did in the 1890s, she opted to have her baby in a hospital almost fifty miles away and then recuperate in a nearby hotel. Most people in her neighborhood knew her as a young widow raising her small family. Still thinking she was a widow, her local community began gossiping when Maggie returned home with a newborn son. Rumors about polygamy had the potential, however, to reverberate beyond her neighbors. Her local bishop threatened to excommunicate her when she refused to reveal the father, Utah newspapers speculated about her relationship, and she was even subpoenaed and questioned about her son in a United States Senate hearing in Washington, D.C. Her local reputation had implications for her church, the state's newspapers, and even the federal government. Her story shows how neighbors witnessed the intimate moments of polygamous family life. Local communities served as key bridges from the intimate lives of families to the broader public. The gossip or the discretion of neighbors was the difference between an undisturbed family and broad public censure.Maggie was, in many ways, an ordinary woman whose family secrets put her in the crosshairs of the federal government, local media, and her own church's policing structures. Her secrets map onto a period of uncertainty and heightened policing for polygamous families during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Maggie Geddes became a plural wife as the federal government began policing anti-polygamy laws in the 1880s, then she married again into polygamy, after her church had formally given up the practice of plural marriage. Her encounters with the American legal system and ecclesiastical courts demonstrate the powers neighbors have as witnesses of intimate family life. Her experience is an example of both the messy ongoing process of secret-keeping and how communities both threatened and legitimized the marriages around them. The stakes of her secrets increased as the priorities and demographics of the community surrounding her changed over time. Most of the community surveillance felt threatening and punitive: Maggie could be called to testify about her intimate life, her husband could be fined or go to jail, and her church could be publicly shamed for continuing plural marriage. But neighborly witnessing of her marriage also proved an important part of her life when she eventually needed to verify that her marriage had taken place. Maggie's story is emblematic of this wide range of neighborly agency.Histories of Mormon polygamists usually focus on the importance of hiding from those enforcing federal laws, not their neighbors.1 Successfully evading the federal government, however, often depended on keeping those same secrets from their local communities. After Utah obtained statehood in 1896, the federal government lost its power to enforce anti-polygamy laws in Utah, and there was little appetite from local officials to prosecute on the same scale. Even then, after men stopped being in active danger of imprisonment, polygamists still fretted over the potential surveillance of their neighbors, wards, and even church leaders.Neighbors were key intermediaries between families and the government. Historian Nancy Cott has shown that marriage is much more than a private relationship between two people; it is an institution that requires “public affirmation.” While acceptance comes through laws and cultural norms, it is the local community's approval (or lack thereof) that couples most The is a of women in have the importance of gossip as a of the of of and marriage have also shown the importance of neighborly witnessing in surrounding and on this how neighbors and to the became important intermediaries in the that polygamists the of anti-polygamy laws did not their the laws were of the of the local community to and relationship to changed as had to their to their felt the of community policing as their and were their neighbors. plural like Maggie were a to the cultural their neighbors served as of public her to secrets as a plural wife, the birth of her After to the church as a she to Utah in from she became the plural wife of had returned from a in Maggie polygamy in of the same that the federal government had polygamists in Utah and American the the of into a federal federal to much of to polygamous The and of laws in the 1880s, with the in and then the in changed how polygamous families laws polygamists into the as their to the to this of and of their private lives a to as the to own became an that had implications for both the Mormon and in the of the federal government and the anti-polygamy polygamists the was own and in and much however, also that needed to their own and not gossip about the of it was is a that to have lost and that is the The that this gossip was how obtained their about polygamous the Utah and polygamy that were of polygamy the most of the people were and did could to plural wife her small as a to polygamous with could on the of people her community during this families knew the stakes of even had not or about the were in the Utah The of the in the The to their home had and into their family as the of their were about their subpoenaed women were being in and were and for this two or those had the church, and the for of the in Mormon communities to danger when people their their in a it people that a was in and be of often a to for the the nearby miles to the on the with a Local polygamous men and women then to and was and polygamists in Utah a local an for a and a as a when during the began with and neighbors to about in or to about on nearby a from the that an had that the were to the but to be to was not about hiding but also a of community that to their of called a or the that was being the federal to polygamy in the 1880s, the policing power of the government to into the intimate lives of families was had and a to the the had a for how much could about the community of polygamists in the had to on for on was polygamous and could be not about the their families but also and neighbors. In ways, were more than had of the in hiding in the Utah of as with and of that the of the changed his hiding after had and had of the around again his an the for many polygamists during this period of heightened policing was not to be more of a as than to the of ongoing in their from in their or to a community to with polygamy, and on an community of and community to them. to and plural the to the of the The experience of the was an experience of the of both the and the local could be young woman to as from the neighbors were about was with her and over many a to that into their but it the potential of government The of polygamists that their neighbors, with Maggie's marriage the of this her life as a plural wife that she had to her relationship a secret from the community around even as she began to a life also being her was a but this her family from men and but and the of their women as plural a plural wife, she became she could as she her but she it to there a a her in the and not her in the family to a a she a of her her to more but it her of the that communities give women in their Maggie also changed her community often her and having Maggie did not his with her her in her people knew her as in or the little in Maggie her with After her she her she her and and then that she could still to that carried and that having a was of their secret marriages and to their neighbors. The experience of the was about in on in with of Maggie did not her life from her family or from her and communities often witnessed the of polygamy through to and Her her for the after she had in Utah from Maggie to the when she was married to wife had given her for the two to and Her broader as her her and her knew she was a part of the Geddes family. While with her of her community her to Maggie was still active in her even when she was on the In the of a nearby Mormon in she in and in small in the local and in her local even she did an Her was but the of the local of the a of the secrets of people around them. church that the Mormon be a for those same people about family of an how little there be for the have it to The to own more than an it also how the community during this a young woman with a little baby to was she was on the and then to more to be questioned the The broader church community to polygamists on the that did not but that a secret was was an secret that the young women were plural but to be for polygamy their church in that people knew had those secrets has shown that were through a often through the and of the in in on a The public a in during in this could how a husband and was the of the of was the community witnessing of a the like a the husband the plural home and with in that for her were in a husband publicly the woman and her as his the community their In the neighborly witnessing of a and had broad for was keeping a that her husband was on the of federal But her did go to for Her the of that during the The in it was not had married but with his wife and her as were of a relationship, as a or between and his plural wife that could the of the was the had a of being and the to had her The called a that was about Geddes with wife or however, lives with The a that the local community was that with could on the of the In the of Maggie's the was for the to a of in the and a to on a it when but the that community to often depended on their own for became a process of their about polygamists in the uncertainty about their about the of the and neighbors the of a young a polygamous marriage. their the birth of a beyond the of for polygamy that a marriage could not be The witnessing of marriage and their community was a part of or to their the community to on their family and neighbors, as a to that Even had important or was the Mormon of the own and changed during the in the of the of the a that formally the church from polygamy its from marriage the of the her Maggie was with their was their his of and Maggie in with her The the church was in to plural for was her family and the of her for the Geddes family from an David Maggie's late David the two and from Geddes had in the to two and in the an began to between and over both up in than miles away from this had the Maggie could have plural their be the of and David have Maggie and her both Maggie and David were in polygamous church's of the however, their in a to and a Maggie birth to a between Maggie and relationship and an was In the of had to Maggie was David in his when his around her and being and not an David Maggie that had a church their it a and the in in the of an in in witnesses the marriage. two with to did not about the the potential for as when David Maggie to his home after their marriage and she from his wife about the two had The lack of of an of that most plural did not have to most part of keeping their relationship secret was the of Maggie's birth to in the spring of 1899, after her marriage to to the of that she as a plural wife to her husband Maggie birth to her most women the she her confinement in a hospital of her became her when Maggie's had about the relationship with David when she in on the refused the that Maggie give birth and her hospital birth that of her or neighbors in her as the local community often the hospital Maggie was in to the of and in Utah did not have an community to for them. The that community however, was for Even the hospital a for her the institution was to of Her to give birth a was the lack of from her and a plural wife during the 1880s, she had to birth for her with the she had however, birth had a from her of from her polygamous Maggie her and the for on his birth her In the 1880s, she of her In she did not of in the government Maggie however, that she was not keeping secrets from the policing of her community became a to her secret marriage after when a with a threatened her church In Maggie to the to church needed a from her that the the of the church to and and In the to her her bishop her had of Maggie refused to his about her local church her to a when a was the of a local or a local community a a During the nineteenth local church on from and to and church in and could and witnesses as In the church, courts often and in the power of however, in the to a from the Maggie were of having of she be from her church she be to publicly her to her local The of plural was to but now Maggie being as a woman her own had an she to a secret and for or reveal her secret plural marriage and and her husband to public and Even then, this David still her to their relationship a it a she to Her with the bishop was with she in a of the she was to her polygamy, not of marriage. was not did not she was, in her own a In her the she had was after her church's The however, of the of her and her of the of the or the local church had questioned had the laws of the being the of a whose was not The of the was that she be from the church of her the to go into on that she the of the as a secret wife threatened her in the church, even her church was the institution that her plural marriages was a of the Mormon community in the of the could their local church to their polygamous Maggie's in the church was when David on her Her own to the bishop her had to his of was the for the of the after of the David to on their his to reveal his as Maggie's husband The was a to the local bishop from church that and her could for Maggie and her her a in and her with a small to her was important for a woman had to for her on her But in the community and on were a for that her and were her neighbors and even her and David were not the to into polygamy during this Historian has plural marriages that between and those marriages of Utah, the go The plural of the public in more communities as in or Maggie and David married in a in Utah for its after their Maggie fifty miles to the of Mormon life in in Utah of a potential relationship also became in federal about in the early twentieth Maggie have when she her for a Senate a of with was being from her home in to D.C. to testify a hearing of the his in the Senate as a for The were a of as and the the of Mormon to as a Utah in the Maggie was the of witnesses to testify in the that the of the witnesses were important church or of the community in Utah and the could Maggie's marriage to could then this as broader that had not their to plural marriage. Her of birth to in a hospital and from her small-town home in to had not had the and David were not the of were to and in an when most plural of Local witnessing and gossip about the of Maggie's son into broader of the of the church in an of in the Senate put her in an she that she was a plural wife, her husband and church keeping the secret of her marriage that she be as an of an son. In her own she did not to be a in of the and her Maggie's she had to her or reveal her secret plural marriage to Maggie David with her not to reveal this on Maggie to D.C. on the had to when she she for her the Senate hearing called to she to the about the of her son and that she was married to After being a she was the to her reputation with witnesses the was his experience in the Maggie was to be in her a woman of and this of Maggie's reputation for was and her neighbors. women had with however, Maggie's local reputation had men often the for polygamy in of or plural often the of In her with David for Maggie with not have to it But in many ways, she David was called to testify in of the in D.C. about the of his relationship with In his to her but relationship with But it was Maggie's reputation for not that to be witnesses during the about Maggie's reputation that into the shows how communities of and the of local and The and even the in the in and Utah, were small for community to and of the about the of witnesses the was the to called their of polygamy, not as and but as community of the were the witnesses knew the reputation of potential polygamous men and women in their communities. about Maggie's reputation during the in this In the witnesses the about their local the to polygamy not as men in but also as community policing through the of the people not that in a usually is on in the little of how people about plural marriages in their be for to go from of those and a plural marriage or of and and go to keeping and raising a family Maggie knew from experience that this was the and was David Eccles to like many polygamous men during the in In an in the 1880s, the of and the of a marriage could have to David as a The polygamy in the early twentieth was that were also called to during the was and that polygamous families be to In the 1880s, federal men like Maggie's to for the it have on their the early twentieth however, and had a of the that and the of polygamists have on their was a the of the witnesses had also in the anti-polygamy in the previous two were the men had for and the of it was in the early twentieth however, many were more about the of families and now to the and legal has people in the were about the and of church an to polygamy with the in the of the both Mormon and changed and became to also became on the of the like Maggie's bishop were not with the secrets of polygamy, many church the polygamists in their the and The community also changed as it that the of in Utah was in and then, almost to Utah and were The of did however, of many the and the to polygamy as a to the federal anti-polygamy was to as as it was not their neighbors of marriage during this period have also shown that communities were in their of could the as or be the became of the of own in Utah in the when a about a after wife and wife had not in the of a to his relationship with his plural the then in the often their about polygamy as men their this when the was of the of his have with from that to the polygamists in their communities with their after the as as did in polygamy were still into the but be this the of her son life to the polygamous of his birth a in she not to her secret but also to After a David a and Maggie a for her the to the however, David a and of the men in Utah, David had Maggie that she and be for when of his however, a for David had publicly Maggie and their son his two were of their marriage. to about Maggie was that she was a widow their husband for had legal to their Mormon but as the father, could legal wife and son were for his and his to his had with his wife and with his women were to be his and their be in the of two did however, Maggie's her relationship with After the wife a local Maggie and David had both the of their marriage in the could Maggie the marriage she had to for over a Maggie's from her in hiding her had marriage and had about on birth the of the and her husband had was the to their secret Maggie to to for The in many ways, the from when the federal could was on how a had Maggie however, was that there was that David had this much in his in the in Maggie had much to his The in her was David had as his son. Maggie's with the Eccles from her previous keeping secrets from the government, the from her to secrets from her has shown that people could be in local courts the had their local Maggie's reputation her neighbors as a woman was an part of this she the community her son as she her of be The of on her as the she to give birth in she felt her with David Eccles after that were as as between and in the about her had implications for her life as the about Maggie's in to the to Geddes into the her in to David Eccles is Maggie's bishop had her to the and threatened when she refused to in and now she again with her church were to her of being a plural wife was The of courts about her and reputation had implications for she was a of her a to that was of the to the Eccles was an and and families had an of and Maggie had In the of this Maggie the Eccles of private and to her that in the of that she in her life, and in keeping up an on the 1880s, however, were to to that she was not married to Maggie to reveal her and to now had to on the neighbors had on and about her in the and her a of people could to her and of her was for this a of the Maggie had and married was not to the local of but his own had on Maggie to the during Maggie's did not testify and have a for Maggie's legal The same people whose gossip to Maggie being subpoenaed in the Senate in D.C. were now being to her relationship to Maggie needed to the the people had that had threatened to her over the the of summer, in the began with Maggie's and was the she had to her and she little The was a local and her private life was to the public. In the Maggie about her marriage to Geddes and her life of as she from the federal in the about how had her after in and how her with David had over the then how David had a secret marriage church in an of the of birth in the the with her and her to to testify the Her about the for with the of the Eccles the a local in Utah on of Maggie's story was a of for her Her with an the and of the the of the church, to polygamous men were continuing to practice and Maggie's story the church's of marriages after the a into how men and women the home from a of church his wife with a of David her that Eccles was not the of Geddes and that it was up in his that with the but that this to go on as it has the of the was that its had the of a in the shows that now that Maggie had her or she had Maggie had little over her a of the Eccles of was the of Maggie had to for The did not about the intimate of relationship to Maggie or The Eccles to to Maggie as a widow to David that had the Eccles Maggie was a from them. Maggie that David had her to in and in as or in of in the into the In to the of her the Eccles also on her men could be father, her her with many key for her was the to the of the whose David had that David had his marriage and in the had to Maggie's had to excommunicate her in Her also on church to their called on of the to that people had the church's and married after the of the Maggie's however, from people her witnesses a into the of neighborly that had to Maggie and had as put his around her and with in the that David go to Maggie's his and put into Maggie's after the two of had marriage in the Her wife from her marriage that she often after Maggie's during Maggie's was of in her life. when David Eccles and Maggie's also that Maggie was when were as people of to this Maggie's could be to the neighbors and the of the families in their however, beyond of in public. of and the early often the lack of neighbors, Maggie's shows that home were also a of neighborhood life in early Maggie had her own did not it was a and Maggie's and through the to was her was in the for his and was to she and Maggie were in the of keeping of in as men were about this she returned to Maggie's or she it a to how that she had David Maggie a The of Maggie's or were for her neighbors. of the gossip surrounding was the that Maggie refused to a of the the of her neighbors their own about Maggie's relationship to her marriage was to on the moments when she had to it a the of her neighbors, Maggie her In a of to the in his to be the of the and that is an of she on an with the Eccles and a for the Eccles family whose on and of Utah, Maggie and on to The two of to in and married in After the Maggie her more she was now the Eccles her to she had to during of her Her reputation was up for families were in their local and a part in and also them. were for polygamous families witnessed little moments of and those the in the and the But community did not have her marriage private that she had to how people and her In her community could or her neighbors the church's to their own during the 1880s, often the of a polygamous secret for had for both the polygamous around and the of neighborly witnessing could the of the onto polygamous lives but could as legal Maggie to her marriage a neighborly could on the of her life. when she to over the Eccles this same neighborly her as she publicly her marriage for the time. the of her neighbors to her polygamous relationship, Maggie of her own secret and her after of