My wife had a great(I can't remember how many greats) grandfather that was with the Mormons from before they came to Utah. He kept a diary that her grandmother had. She printed off a copy for every family member. I'm not really big on LDS history but I started to read it one night out of boredom. It was insane.
One night(IIRC they were in Missouri at the time) a bunch of dudes tied up some mormons, whipped them, and abducted some women. Her ancestor was part of a group of militia men that chased them off.
He also talked about polygamy. He said that Joseph Smith gave a speech about it in the center of Nauvoo next to some fountain or something. He obviously had a crisis of faith over it for a while. Later his wife suggested that he should marry her sister. She felt that it was better that her sister be a member of their family than someone else's and that if he was to have a second wife she could deal with it better if it was someone she already loved.
Unfortunately my wives copy was lost in a move. We need to remember to try and get another copy from her family. It was one of the most fascinating things I have ever read.
