How common is polygamy in the SLC area? (West Jordan, St. George: houses, live in)

[williboy]

You see shows like "Big Love" and it makes you wonder just how common this practice is in Utah. If someone could please elaborate, it would be much appreciated.

[lemon&lime]

according to this website:

Polygamy FAQ

[jazzlover]

I don't know why a man would want more than one wife. One was enough--actually more than enough--for me . . .

[desertsun41]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

I don't know why a man would want more than one wife. One was enough--actually more than enough--for me . . .

Ya got a point there. But it is nice to think about it for a moment.

[williboy]

Actually my wife and I have reached that age where we were looking for more of a live in housekeeper. However, if calling her a second wife could help us to get one on the cheap, well a dollar saved you know.

[achtungpv]

Multiple girlfriends, hell yes. Multiple wives, hell no.

[waterbabies]

You will see them here and there, but they mostly keep to themselves. You will know when you see them (the very fundamentalist ones, anyways). Sterotypically, the women and girls will have long hair, braided, bunned, pinned and formed, etc. Always in dresses/skirts with pantyhose and tights. The men will be clean-shaven, have parted and combed hair short hair, button-up shirts and jeans/docker-style pants. They know people stare. It's very sad. But for the most part, people are polite and don't bother them.
There is a large concentration that live at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon behind tall concrete walls and locked gates. And of course I imagine the majority of west-coast polygamists live further south in Colorado City.

[stycotl]

Originally Posted by catrinac

according to this website:

Polygamy FAQ

that is not the best website as far as polgamy in the mormon church is concerned. if i were you i would not go to a site that is devoted to the 'studies of mormon fundamentalism' when fundamentalists have about as much in common with the latter day church as protestants do with the catholics they broke away from.

that said, polygamy is still practiced in some areas of the western states, by small groups, who are not endorsed or supported by any church, not even secretly, as this site would have you believe.

wikipedia is surprisingly a more accurate, nonbiased source than this and many other related sites.

if you want actual information about what the mormon church believes about polygamy, currenty and historically, go to lds.org.

if you want census info about polygamist families, i am not sure which website would have accurate numbers, but some websites at least give researched, reliable facts.

try historytogo.utah.gov

[williboy]

I am aware that the Mormon Church no longer endorses polygamy; I was just interested in finding out if this was a common practice in Utah or not.

[coolcats]

There are a couple of housing clusters -- one off of the Bacchus Highway on the far west side of the SL Valley, and one in West Jordan, that I'm pretty sure are polygamist families. 3 or 4 houses in each, and they are sort of isolated off by themselves. Once I was in Target in South Jordan, and I saw your stereotypical polygamist woman and child. Don't know for sure that they were, but they had the manner of dress that indicated so. So in short, you don't run across polygamists very often, or they are so integrated into society you don't know that they are.

When I was in St. George in December, I saw far more. I think St. George is the main place polygamists from Colorado City come to stock up.