through a special sealing ceremony. The ceremony included sexual intercourse witnessed by his white wife Lucy. Nelson Wheeler Whipple recorded,
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When I arrived in this branch, it was in rather a curious fix. A man had been there by the name of McCarry. He was said to be a mulatto or quarterrun [quadroon] who professed to be some great one, and had converted a good many to his kind of religion … He had a number of women sealed to him in his way which was as follows: He had a house in which this ordinance was performed. His wife, Lucy Stanton, was in the room at the time of the performance, no others were admitted. The form of sealing was for the women to bed with him, in the daytime as I was informed three different times by which they were sealed to the fullest extent…. 105 As Mormons learned of McCary’s sealings to white women, many were upset and some threatened to shoot McCary.106 Because of this, he made a “fast trot” to Missouri in mid-‐July 1847.107 After staying in Missouri for a short time, the McCarys then left for Washington, DC, to begin a life as a travelling show. O’Donovan says that McCary, the half-‐white half-‐black escaped slave, finally abandoned his family name altogether and recreated himself as a full-‐blooded Choctaw named Okah Tubbee, the lost son of an important historical chief named Amosholi-‐T-‐ubi or Moshulatubbe. Lucy, the Anglo-‐Saxon Mormon woman, turned herself into a Delaware “Indian Princess” named Laah Ceil Manatoi Elaah Tubbee.108 This was the same time that Mormon settlers entered the Salt Lake Valley for the first time. On the trek, Brigham Young was beginning to broach the idea of becoming the next prophet. Perhaps he was influenced by the Strang and Rigdon movements, as well as being isolated from Nauvoo. Wilford Woodruff recorded that Brigham began to prepare others for the idea that he had the ability to receive revelation. On August 15, 1847, “Some have had fears that we had not power to get revelations since the death of Joseph. But I want this subject from this time forth to be forever set at rest. I want this Church to understand from this day henceforth and forever that an apostle is the highest office of authority that there is in the Church and kingdom of God on the earth. From whom did Joseph receive his authority? Just such men as sit around me here (pointing to the Twelve Apostles that sat with him). Peter, James and John were apostles and there was no noise about their being seers and revelators though those gifts were among them. Joseph Smith gave unto me and to my brethren, the Twelve, all the priesthood keys, powers, and authority which he had and those are powers 105
Copy of the History of Nelson Wheeler Whipple 1818-‐1887, by Anor Whipple (His son) http://www.clegg-‐ webb.com/Histories/Nelson%20Wheeler%20Whipple%20History.html 106 Bringhurst, Saints, Slaves, pp. 84-‐87. 107 Bringhurst Neither Black Nor White, “Elijah Abel and the Changing Place of Blacks Within Mormonism” cites Whipple, Journal, 14 Oct. 1847. 108 Connell wrote a biography on Warner McCary included in Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster, Persistence of Polygamy: Post-‐Joseph Smith Mormon Polygamy from 1844 to 1890 Volume II.
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Kaylee Herrick 7/24/12 12:22 AM Comment [59]: Sounds a little awkward. Consider rewriting.
Kaylee Herrick 7/23/12 4:28 PM Deleted: Of course July is the
Kaylee Herrick 7/23/12 4:28 PM Deleted: I
Kaylee Herrick 7/24/12 12:22 AM Comment [60]: Sounds a little out of place. Either integrate it into the previous sentence or says something like on August 15, 1847, Brigham Young wrote,