The brief period of polygamy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints divides naturally into four periods. James and Hatch ancestors played roles in all four.

Period One: 1831 to 1843
     After publication of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith began translating the Old and New Testaments -- using the Urim and Thummim to guide him rather than ancient texts. This work led to revelations on many topics for the Prophet. He would ask questions, and the Lord would provide answers. Doctrine and Covenants Section 76, for example, the great revelation on the three degrees of glory, came in 1832 in response to the Prophet's inquiry regarding "the salvation of man," after the Prophet had "resumed the translation of the Scriptures." The Lord approved of Joseph's work on the Bible, declaring in 1833: "It is my will that you should hasten to translate my scriptures, and to obtain a knowledge of history, and of countries, and of kingdoms, of laws of God and man, and all this for the salvation of Zion" (D&C 93:53).
     During this period of translation, the Prophet's understanding of marriage evolved rapidly. One key manifestation of this growing knowledge specifically involves Hatch ancestors Newel Knight and Lydia Goldthwaite. In 1835 Ohio law refused to recognize Mormon elders as ministers and therefore would not allow the Church to perform its own marriage ceremonies as it did other sects. Yet Joseph Smith understood by this time that marriage was a saving ordinance in the Lord's kingdom that needed to be sealed on earth by those with heavenly keys and heavenly authority. The Prophet grew anxious to apply this knowledge. Newel, a young widower, and Lydia, long separated from her first husband, who had abandoned her without granting a legal divorce, provided an opportunity.
     Historian Richard S. Van Wagoner describes the event: "In a bold display of civil disobedience on 14 November 1835, Smith married Lydia Godthwait Bailey to Newel Knight. Initially Seymour Brunson, who held a valid minister's license, was to perform the marriage. But as Hyrum Smith began the introductory comments, Joseph Smith stepped forward, stopped his brother, and declared his intent to officiate. The bride later recalled his saying, 'Our Elders have been wronged and prosecuted for marrying without a license. The Lord God of Israel has given me authority to unite the people in the holy bonds of matrimony. And from this time forth I shall use that privilege and marry whomsoever I see fit'" (Homespun 1893, 31 qtd. in Mormon Polygamy: A History 7). At the conclusion of the Knight ceremony, the Prophet commented "that marrige was an institution of heaven, instituted in the garden of Eden; that it was necessary it should be solemnized by the authority of the everlasting Priesthood" (HC 2:320 qtd in Van Wagoner 7). During the next few weeks the Prophet officiated at numerous other weddings.
     At some point early in the Prophet's translation of the Bible, he approached the Lord with questions about the many wives of the Old Testament patriarchs (D&C 132:1). Most likely Joseph Smith brought this question to the Lord prior to the 1835 incident with Newel and Lydia Knight. The answer the Prophet received is recorded in Doctrine and Covenants Section 132, although this revelation was not written and presented to the High Council until 1843. The section header to this revelation says "the doctrines and principles involved in this revelation had been known by the Prophet since 1831." Records also indicate that the Prophet had begun to put the doctrines and principles of plural marriage into practice before 1843 -- most likely in the mid- to early-1830s. Many rumors and conflicting reports exist as to how and when Joseph Smith married various women prior to the recording of Section 132. The history is sketchy at best, and a detailed review of all reports serves little purpose. It can be said with certainty, however, that the transitional period from 1831 to 1843 was a trying one for Joseph and his first wife, Emma, and for other women approached by the Prophet. A commandment to practice plural marriage most likely was not what the Prophet expected when he inquired of the Lord's hand "to know and understand" wherein the Lord had justified his servants "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Soloman ... as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines" (D&C 132:1).

Period Two: 1843 to 1852
     Over time, the circle of those aware of polygamy in the Church grew to include many of the Prophet's closest friends and advisers. Rumors of the teaching reached an even wider circle. Publicly, however, the Prophet continued to preach monogamy. At some point, probably during the Nauvoo period, the Prophet's brother Hyrum approached him and inquired if the rumors were true. Joseph Smith explained the revelation to Hyrum, the assistant president of the Church, who accepted the principle after a spiritual struggle. Church historian Joseph Fielding Smith, grandson of Hyrum, says that both Hyrum and Joseph struggled to accept polygamy when first introduced to the teaching: "It was, (Joseph Smith) confessed, one of the greatest trials of his life. He knew the doctrine was in conflict with the traditions and teachings of the world and would arouse increased persecution, and his own prejudices were in opposition to the principle. The same was true of Hyrum Smith, who had to be convinced by the Spirit of the Lord before he would accept the principle" (Life of Joseph F. Smith 80). After this encounter, Hyrum introduced the concept of plural marriage to his wife, Mary Fielding, who accepted it also. Apparently, this gave Hyrum confidence that if Joseph Smith would put the revelation in writing, Hyrum could carry it to Emma and to the High Council of the Stake of Nauvoo and use the document to convert them to the principle also. "William Clayton, in an 1874 affidavit, reported that Hyrum had asked Joseph on 12 July 1843, 'If you will write the revelation on celestial marriage, I will take it to Emma, and I believe I can convince her of its truth, and you will hereafter have peace.' Joseph, knowing better the extent of her opposition, replied, 'You do not know Emma as well as I do.' Hyrum pleaded, 'The doctrine is so plain, I can convince any reasonable man or woman of its truth, purity and heavenly origin.' So the prophet agreed to dictate the revelation to Clayton" (Jenson, Historical Record 6 [July 1887]: 226 qtd in Van Wagoner 57). Joseph Fielding Smith says, "Hyrum Smith volunteered to present this matter before the High Council of the Stake of Nauvoo. This revelation was dated July 12, 1843, but it was made known to the Prophet long before that date. But it was not committed to writing until that day, and it was done at that time at the request of Hyrum Smith" (80).
     Historians generally agree that Hyrum had no more success bringing Emma around to the idea of polygamy than had her husband, Joseph. "Hyrum returned a short time later after delivering the document to her and said 'he had never received a more severe talking to in his life'" (Van Wagoner 57). Clayton's 12 July 1843 journal entry also states: "after it was wrote Prests. Joseph & Hyrum presented it and read it to E. (Emma) who said she did not believe a word of it and appeared very rebellious" (qtd. in Van Wagoner 62). Nevertheless, Hyrum's wife, Mary Fielding, allowed Joseph Smith to seal a plural wife to Hyrum shortly after the recording of the revelation. Mercy Fielding, sister of Mary, writes of this event as follows:
     "On the 11th of August 1843, I was called by direct revelation from heaven through Brother Joseph the Prophet to enter into a state of pluarl marriage with Hyrum Smith the Patriarch. This subject, when communicated to me, tried me to the very core. All my former traditions and every natural feeling of my heart rose in opposition to this principle, but I was convinced that it was appointed by Him who is too wise to err and too good to be unkind. Soon after marriage I became the inmate with my sister in the house of Hyrum Smith where I remained until his death, sharing with my sister the care of his numerous family" (Thompson Centennial letter, qtd. in Mary Fielding Smith: Daughter of Britain by Don C. Corbett 152-53).
     Some members of the Nauvoo Stake High Council and other Church leaders, including First Presidency second counselor William Law, rejected the revelation after it was presented to them. William Law, Wilson Law, Francis M. Higbee, Chauncey Higbee, Robert D. Foster, Charles A. Foster and Austin Cowles soon left the Church and helped stir up the political climate in which Joseph and Hyrum were killed less than one year after the recording of the revelation.
     One common misconception about this period and about later periods of persecution against the Church is that animosity toward the Saints stemmed from the world's hatred and misunderstanding of polygamy. Although the Church was often attacked for its sanction of polygamy, persecution against its members did not originate with polygamy. Long before rumors of polygamy spread to the world -- long before William Law and his brother published the Nauvoo Expositor -- the Saints had been expelled from New York and then from Ohio. Massacres in Missouri, the infamous Externmination Proclamation and the eventual expulsion of the Saints from Missouri also preceded rumors of polygamy. Joseph Smith and others loyal to him had suffered mock trials, beatings and imprisonment. The Prophet dated this persecution to his boyhood, years before he knew anything about polygamy. He writes in his history: "I soon found, however, that my telling the story (of the First Vision) had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase" (JS-H 22). Joseph Smith and his brother were killed because they were prophets, the same as Isaiah, Peter and Abinadi. Polygamy was one excuse used to justify their martyrdoms, but if polygamy had not existed, other satisfactory excuses would have been contrived.
     Among those close the Church, knowledge of plural marriage began to spread more rapidly after its recording in 1843. Yet talk of the new doctrine remained guarded, and Church members were counseled not to discuss the principle with nonbelievers. Once beyond the reach of the Church's enemies in Illinois and Missouri, however, Church members began to speak more freely about polygamy. Eliza R. Snow, then a plural wife of Brigham Young, writes in her diary in 1846: "We felt as tho' we could breathe more freely and speak one with another upon those things wherein God had made us free with less carefulness than we had hitherto done" (qtd. in Van Wagoner 82). Philemon Christopher Merrill and his wife Cyrena Dustin were among those who knew of the revelation and accepted it early on. In 1851 Philemon received permission from Cyrena and from Church officials to marry Mary Jane Smith, a pioneer from Illinois. A few months later, Lydia Goldthwaite, left a widow when Newel Knight died in Nebraska while crossing the Great Plains to Utah, also entered polygamy with John Dalton. Both these marriages took place more than one year before the Church announced publicly its sanction of plural marriage.
     During these years of secrecy, the Church called Apostle John Taylor to serve a mission in France. Rumors of polygamy in the Church had preceded him, and when he arrived he faced various questions on the topic. During one public speech in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, he denied the Church's sanction of polygmay. Certain critics have pointed to this speech and accused the apostle of dishonesty. However, the questions the apostle faced in France regarding polygamy were set as a trap, and his denials of the practice were essentially true when put into context. To those who had inquired about polygamy, the doctrine represented something lurid and perverse. As John Taylor said, "We are accused of actions ... the most indelicate, obscene and disgusting." Polygamy would have been something obscene and disgusting had it been practiced by people such as those making the accusations -- people without faith in revealed religion, without discipline in matters of virtue and chastity, and without a desire to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. But polygamists in Utah generally were not like that. As Joseph Smith taught, "No man knows the things of God, but by the Spirit of God" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith 205). The people who confronted Elder Taylor in France, and the majority who confronted other missionaries elsewhere, lacked the Spirit of God and thus the ability to understand spiritual matters. Plural marriage the way it was practiced in Utah was beyond their grasp.
     What the people on the streets of France wanted from John Taylor was simply a confirmation that Mormons in Utah were doing something barbaric. These inquirers were not honest seekers of the truth, as manifest by their apathy toward Elder Taylor's basic message of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and the laying on of hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Thus, had the apostle answered their yes or no questions about polygamy in the affirmative, he would have been saying, in effect, "Yes, the Mormons in Utah are doing something lurid and perverse." This would have been a lie. Any marriage ordained of god is holy, not barbaric. Thus, although John Taylor had more than one wife in Utah, he spoke truthfully in France when he denied the Church's sanction of polygamy as the principle was understood by those who inquired. A more complete answer, perhaps, would have been, "No, the Church does not practice the polygamy you accuse it of practicing." But John Taylor was under no obligation to expound the principle to these people. The Lord had sent him to France to preach the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel -- nothing more or less. When clearance did come from the Lord to defend polygamy openly, John Taylor became one of the most eloquent and persistent in the Church.

Period Three: 1852 to 1879
     After the Saints had safely gathered in the Salt Lake Valley, polygamists began to live their beliefs openly. U.S. Army officers in Utah became aware of the lifestyle by 1850 and reported their observations to government officials back East. By 1851 Brigham Young announced his own polygamous practices, declaring 4 February 1851 to the territorial legislature: "I have many and I am not ashamed to have it known" (Kenney 4:12 qtd. in Van Wagoner 83). Finally, on 29 August 1852, the Church selected Orson Pratt to introduce the principle of the "plurality of wives" officially to the world during a Church conference. After a discourse by Pratt, Brigham Young also spoke on the topic.
     In the early years after the 1852 announcement, before Congress began drafting and enforcing anti-polygamy laws, the practice of polygamy surged in Utah and surrounding areas. The Church taught polygamy as a higher law and encouraged local and stake leaders and other faithful Saints to enter the practice. This period, known by some as the Mormon Reformation, peaked around 1856 or 1857. "No period of Mormon history demonstrated a devotion to polygamous duty more than the two-year period from 1856 to 1857," Van Wagoner writes (92). It was during these two years that Zemira Palmer and James Lake took second wives. Soon, the majority of polygamous James and Hatch ancestors began the practice. Of the 14 polygamous marriages recorded in these families, 11 occurred between 1852 and 1879. The following time line establishes the chronology:

1. 5 April 1851: Philemon Christopher Merrill, already married to Cyrena Dustin, marries Mary Jane Smith of Illinois. This is the first polygamous marriage recorded among James or Hatch ancestors.

2. 13 August 1851: Lydia Goldthwaite, widow of Newel Knight, marries polygamist John Dalton.

3. 11 November 1854: Lorenzo Hill Hatch, already married to Sylvia Savonia Eastman, marries English immigrant Catherine Karren.

4. 30 March 1856: Zemira Palmer, already married to Sally Knight, marries Canadian immigrant Caroline Jacques.

5. 15 October 1857: James Lake Jr., already married to Philomela Smith, marries Mary Hutton McMurray of New York.

6. 2 January 1860: Lorenzo Hill Hatch, already married to Sylvia Savonia Eastman and Catherine Karren, marries English immigrant Alice Hanson.

7. 11 October 1861: James Lake Jr., already married to Philomela Smith and Mary Hutton McMurray, marries Polly Smith (records are unclear if a relation exists to first wife Philomela, who had an older sister named Polly that died in 1836, according to Ancestral File records.)

8. Date unknown: Ancestral File records also show Ester Ann Pierce Gheen as a wife of James Lake Jr. but do not list any pedigree information.

9. 5 December 1862: William D. Kartchner, already married to Margaret Jane Casteel, marries Australian immigrant Elizabeth Gale.

10. 27 July 1867: Samuel Merrill, who had married Norwegian immigrant Anna Fredericksen in 1862 about 10 months after the death of his first wife, Phebe Odle (or Odell), marries Swedish immigrant Brita (Betty) Jonsson.

11. 22 February 1868: John Henry Standifird, already married to English immigrant Mary Ann Argyle, marries her sister, Francis (Fanney) Argyle of England.

12. 9 October 1873: Philemon Christopher Merrill, already married to Cyrena Dustin and Mary Jane Smith, marries English immigrant Rhoda Sylvia Collett

13. 10 January 1879: Joseph Henry James, already married to Elizabeth Salome Bloomfield, marries her sister, Mary Eliza Bloomfield of Hyde Park, Utah.

14. 12 September 1882: Joseph Henry James, already married to Elizabeth Salome Bloomfield and Mary Eliza Bloomfield, marries Orpha Amelia Rogers of Parowan, Utah. This is the final polygamous marriage recorded among James or Hatch ancestors.

Period Four: 1879 to 1890
     The first federal anti-polygamy law, the Morrill Anti-bigamy Act, passed Congress in 1862 but was not enforced for several years. Finally, with Reynolds v. the United States in 1879 the Supreme Court legitimized to the Morrill Act by upholding a Utah territorial court decision against Mormon polygamist George Reynolds. Reynolds had been chosen by the Church to test the constitutionality of anti-polygamy laws. This ruling was a setback for the Church and paved the way for more aggressive anti-polygamy laws -- which for the first time began to be enforced.
     In the three-year period from 1876 to 1879, more than 100 new Mormon settlements were founded outside Utah, mostly in Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming and Colorado. "These settlements, essentially efforts to expand Mormon influence, became havens for fleeing polygamists in the mid-1880s" (Van Wagoner 125). As part of this movement, the Church called polygamist William D. Kartchner, his son-in-law Alma Zemira Palmer, and others to help settle northern Arizona in 1877. The year before, the Church had asked polygamist Lorenzo Hill Hatch to help scout out the Arizona territory. By 1878 Lorenzo had established two of his three families in the area. Polygamist John Henry Standifird already had settled in Arizona by 1873. And Polygamist Joseph Henry James and the Bloomfield family had settled in Sunset, Arizona, some time before 1877. Meanwhile, the Church called polygamist Philemon C. Merrill to lead a party to central and southeastern Arizona. This group eventually settled in St. David, Arizona. Thus, many James and Hatch ancestors lived on the outskirts of the Mormon territories when the political situation over polygamy began to heat up.
     Congress bolstered the Morrill Act in 1882, when President Arthur signed the Edmunds Act. This was followed by the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887, which President Cleveland allowed to become law without his signature. A period of intense persecution against the Church followed. Property was seized. Voting rights were canceled. Men were jailed. Bedrooms were raided. One polygamist was shot dead on a public street. Of the James and Hatch ancestors, only Joseph Henry James entered polygamy during this period. He married Mary Eliza Bloomfield in 1879 and Orpha Amelia Rogers in 1882. By the mid-1880s, Joseph Henry decided to join other polygamous Saints in an effort to move beyond the reach of the federal governemnt in northern Mexico. As Church leaders scrambled to negotiate terms for land with the Mexican government, the situation for Joseph Henry and his family grew severe. "By mid-May of 1885 nearly four hundred prospective colonists waited on the banks of the Casas Grandes River, hoping that Mormon church authorities would soon be able to purchase land" (Mormons in Mexico 54). But there were problems. "The months dragged on with no land on which to plant and no income, with wagon boxes and dugouts serving as homes" (54). Joseph Henry James and his families were among those who spent the first winter here living in dugouts. Finally terms were reached and the settlers found permanent homes. The James families eventually settled in the Sierra Madre Mountains in Hop Valley, near Pacheco.
     Persecution against the Church tapered a bit in 1890 when the Church accepted the Manifesto of Wilford Woodruff. However, those who had entered polygamy during the years in which the Church had sanctioned its practice continued as husbands and fathers to multiple families. William D. Kartchner died in Snowflake, Arizona, in 1892. Philemon C. Merrill died in Safford, Arizona, in 1904. Joseph Henry James died in a logging accident in Mexico in 1908. The last of the polygamous men among these ancestors was John Henry Standifird, who died in 1924 in Moab, Utah. However, he did not live with his first wife, Mary Ann Argyle, during the final years of their lives. She died two years before him in 1922, which ended the era of polygamy in the James and Hatch families. (John Henry's second wife, Frances Argyle, lived until 1938 and died in Fruita, Mesa, Colorado.)