Annie Clark Tanner was born on September 24, 1864, in Farmington, Utah and died in 1941. She was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a plural wife, a mother, and an author. Tanner was an author of A Mormon Mother, an autobiography that explains her decision to engage in polygamy and her development from that experience.
Polygamy in Utah and the "underground"
The practice of polygamy was first instituted secretly in the early 1840s by early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was not publicly practiced until 1852 when it was announced over the pulpit. This led to a backlash from the United States Federal government with several pieces of legislation designed to target polygamy. Among these were the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882 and the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887. Both laws followed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act of 1862, which first made polygamy illegal. Each piece of legislation progressively increased the federal government's ability to prosecute polygamists by targeting cohabitation and the seizure of church property.
As a result of these laws, it allowed federal marshals and their deputies to arrest polygamists. They would knock on doors late at night or interrupt church meetings looking for husbands engaged in polygamy. This disrupted the family and community lives of many people in Utah. It also forced many polygamists and their plural wives into hiding to avoid arrest or testify against their husbands in court. Mormons described this experience as hiding in the “underground” which may have been a reference to the underground railroad used during slavery in America. If men were caught, or if women refused to testify in court, then they could be sent to prison. Many prominent Mormon leaders were also forced into the underground and escaped from the main cities in addition to several families. They flocked to Mexico and Canada in large groups to escape prosecution. Polygamy was also not favored in Canada, so typically one family was sent there while others moved to other locations.
The underground also impacted the lives of children in polygamous families. Little children often had to hide with their mothers and were taught to lie to prevent their fathers from getting arrested. Often an innocent answer would send a father to prison, and children would have to bear feelings of guilt throughout their lives. Many children also could not recognize their fathers and grew up lacking a sense of identity in family and community.
Polygamy posed many challenges for the Mormon community, but they persisted out of faith in their religion. It enabled them to overlook domestic issues despite the sources of contention deriving from jealousy and financial problems. Resources in families often were divided unevenly in favor of the first wife. Everyday problems such as disciplining children, visits from husbands, plural wife interactions, family finances, and housing arrangements were not set in place. No polygamous family looked identical because they adapted according to their individual needs. Their religious beliefs allowed them to accept polygamy but did not determine a set pattern of living.
Early life and education
Annie Clark Tanner grew up in a polygamous household as the daughter of a second wife. This gave her first-hand experience and insight into the difficulties that sometimes occurred between plural wives. Her father often gave special consideration to his first wife, and Annie's mother disliked the unequal distribution of attention. On trips, the second wife would often sit in the back seat, and the first wife would never let Annie's father go anywhere without her. Despite these tensions, none of the mothers said anything harsh about the other.
As a young girl, she experienced the Mormon Reformation which was a time of spiritual revival. The Reformation's purpose was to live “more perfectly in their religion”. Annie remembered when Church members raised their right hands and promised not to trade with outsiders or indulge in tea, coffee, or tobacco. The punishment for failing to maintain these high morals was a public acknowledgment of their sin and asking for forgiveness from the congregation. Many members were also rebaptized including Annie though she had been baptized a year before.
Annie was taken out of school to assist her mother and given many adult responsibilities such as helping to raise her younger siblings. Children learned to work early in life and Annie could mix bread around age nine. At age thirteen, she and her sister were put in charge of the washing. There was little time for play in her home as Annie was the oldest of eight children.