Saturday, June 14, 2014
Eliza Maria Partridge (Smith) Lyman - wife #22
Eliza Partridge (April 20, 1820 - 1885), the older and less attractive sister of Emily Partridge, only found out about the principle of plural marriage after moving in with the Smiths following her father's passing. Eliza and Emily were approached by Elizabeth Durfee, another of Joseph's secret wives, and they give in - Emily because she was lured into the Kimball home and pressured, Eliza because... because... I don't know. Maybe she saw that her sister went through with it, remembered, Elizabeth's talk, and reasoned that Joseph could not possibly be doing anything inappropriate. Either way she joined in the game within a week of her sister Emily, and, like Emily, was kicked out of the house once Emma hit her limit.
Following Joseph's death, Eliza married Amasa Mason Lyman, a member of the First Presidency at the time, not to mention a polygamist. His third wife, Caroline Partridge, was Eliza and Emily's sister (Eliza was his fourth). Another sister, Lydia, would become his eighth and final wife.
Eliza had a baby on her way west, but that child died. She had another child before arriving in Utah. She had five children in all.
Amasa was later excommunicated for apostasy and the Partridge sisters left him. Eliza remarried.
Eliza, who had been so disgusted by polygamy in her early twenties, spend her later years as an activist for polygamy.
Read her autobiography here.
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