may 1, 1842 - Excommunications of John C. Bennett & Francis Higbee [Part 14]

Description:

The first alleged account of discipline for sodomy (referred to as buggery) involved the May 1842 excommunications of John C. Bennett and Francis Higbee.

John C. Bennett, was an influential friend of the prophet Joseph Smith. Professionally, Bennett was a trained physician and provided medical services to the city of Nauvoo. John Bennett also served as the Mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois and Major-General of the Nauvoo Legion.

William Smith, the brother of the Prophet publicly accused Bennett of having sexual relations with men. Historians also record that Joseph Smith caught Bennett having sex with 21-year-old Francis Higbee on July 4, 1841. Bennett was also accused of seducing the “sisters” of Nauvoo, leading historians to believe he was not a homosexual in the modern sense but rather polyamorous or bisexual; open to a variety of sexual experiences. Church records confirm that Higbee and Bennett were excommunicated: guilty of “a crime not fit to be named.”

-Andrew F. Smith
Author, The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett

Added to timeline:

Date: