Polygamy in the Latter-day Saint Church lasted a short period of time compared to polygamy in other cultures, such as in Islamic nations and among various African tribes, such as the Ibo in Nigeria. Thus, Mormon men had few patterns to follow when it came to practical matters such as proper courtship leading to polygamy. They could not consult the examples of their parents and older siblings, for example, or find ideas in literature. Doctrine and Covenants 132, the revelation on marriage, and Old Testament passages provided doctrinal guidelines, but these sources did not work well as "how to" manuals. "Courtship manners were not well established, and accounts of older men 'making fools of themselves' over young girls are seen occassionally. The rules of wooing depended on the individuals involved: interest could be initiated by the man, the prospective wife, or even the first wife who felt it was her religious duty to do so" (Mormon Polygamy: A History 90).
     Details of courtship among James and Hatch ancestors are scarce. Zemira Palmer wrote an acrostic in 1850 during courtship with his first wife, Sally Knight: "Success to thee during life, / And may you be some good man's wife. / Long may you live with plenty blest / Like a fair queen enjoy the best / Young youth and age by friends caressed." But how Zemira courted his second wife, Caroline Jacques, is unclear. Lorenzo Hill Hatch writes the following in his journal regarding his courtship with English immigrant Alice Hanson, his fourth and final wife: "I started to the City with Brother Evans. I went to the office and saw Brother Calder, President Young's clerk, about having a sister sealed to me. He told me to come the next day at 11 a.m. ... I learned where Sister Alice was and went to the house and saw her. I made arrangements with her to go with me to the President's the next day." Lorenzo was two days shy of 34 at the time and Alice was 22. He does not explain whether he met and courted Alice while on a mission to England, or if he had met her in Utah. He also does not mention the dispostion of his other wives regarding this final marriage. A granddaughter of Alice Hanson says Alice had worked in the Hatch home doing domestic chores after her immigration from England and says this is when Alice first caught Lorenzo's eye. However, an unsigned account in Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude Vol. II, published by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers in 1998, says the marriage took place three months after Alice arrived from England. "Alice had become acquainted with Elder Hatch while he was serving a mission in her native country of England, two years before," the account says (1283).
     Joseph Henry James and John Henry Standifird married sets of sisters, which would have created opportunities for courtship during visits with in-laws. In Mormon Polygamous Families: Life in the Principle, Jessie L. Embry says that in 25 percent of the polygamous families sampled in one study, the wives were sisters. Kimball Young also reports in another study that 20 percent of polygamous men married sisters (qtd in Embry). Joseph Henry James met Elizabeth Bloomfield at Sunset, Ariz., and married her in 1877. About 18 months later, he married her younger sister, Mary Eliza Bloomfield. John Henry Standifird married Mary Ann Argyle in 1864 and then, four years later, married Mary's 16-year-old sister, Frances. John Henry entered this second marriage despite a warning from the girls' father that the sisters would be jealous of each other (according to Merle Kartchner Shumway, a great-granddaughter). Joseph James and Joseph Argyle also married sets of sisters, but as widowers after the first sister had died.
     Embry offers a general description of the "brisk efficiency" of courtship protocal among LDS polygamists. "For those that did accept the principle, their courtships were the same as monogamous ones during the nineteenth century," Embry writes (54). She says these marriages came about not because of romantic physical attraction but because of a desire to work for common goals. "Dating" in monogamous and polygamous marriages was much different from today, Embry says (66). Mary E. Croshaw, the fourth wife of George H. Farrell, says courtships were brief and somewhat formal. "Married men didn't do any courting of their plural wives. Why, we would have thought it was dishonorable for a mature married man to go sparking like a young man. They just came and asked us, and if we wanted them, we agreed" (qtd. in Embry 67).
     Embry reports several case studies on polygamous courtship practices, although some of the events she relates take place after the 1890 Manifesto. She tells the story of Joseph C. Bentley of St. George, Utah, whose first wife set him up with his secod wife. She also gives a case study in which a girl's father approaches a potential son-in-law about marrying his daughter. In another example, Betsy Lowe Allen of Cove, Utah, says she was still in bed recovering from the birth of her first child when she saw her husband "out spooning" with her sister Nellie, who had come to help with the delivery. Betsy's son, Clarence, says his father and Aunt Nellie later came and told his mother they were in love and wanted to get married. In short, methods varied widely.
     These case studies may or may not shed light on what took place in the James and Hatch families.