SHOWER THOUGHT: How old was Annie McLean when kidnapped by Parley P Pratt?
This is a spin-off from another thread debating whether or not Joseph Smith meets the definition of martyr. How do we know Hector McLean was acting as a jealous husband when he killed Parley P Pratt after Pratt ran off with McLean's wife and children?
Of course Mormon hagiography is going to downplay the polygamy and adultery roots to Pratt's execution, painting Hector McLean in the worst light. But given that Pratt was making his way back to the State of Deseret with the McLean children, where he would be protected by a Mormon theocracy, and given that teenaged brides and mother-daughter concubinage were not uncommon within Mormon polygamy at the time, is it not possible that McLean was acting out of paternal instinct trying to protect his kidnapped daughter Annie from becoming wife #13 to Pratt?
Posted Apr 15, 2016, 2:09 AM UTC