So why was adding teenage Fanny necessary?
Speaking in general -
During the 1800s, the social support networks we take for granted didn't exist. If a woman didn't live in a state where she could have property in her name, she was toast if she was a widow or unmarried and had no family willing to support her... something that was an all too common reality since then - as now - it was depressingly common for people to abandon and shun relatives who joined the church.
Someone like Fanny - who had been knocked up by a previous lover - or Brigham Young's first plural wife, a widow, would have literally been out in the cold due to a society that didn't care.
Yes, even mainstream Christianity frequently fell short here.
And contrary to popular belief, the church never functioned as an autocracy; higher levels of government were frequently breathing down our necks, limiting how progressive the church could be. Remember - the Missouri War was as much about abolition as anything else, and the federal government actually stripped women in Utah of the right to vote as punishment for the Mormon Women bloc being beyond Washington's control.
Plural marriage was a questionable solution, but it was the best solution available at the time.
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