Eliza R. Snow explains to Joseph F. Smith the context of the 1842 Relief Society declaration.
Eliza R. Snow, Letter to Joseph F. Smith, undated, Joseph F. Smith Papers, MS 1325, Church History Library
Br. Joseph:
On looking over the pamphlet it seems perfectly easy to disprove the statenebts which refer to the article over the brehtren's and the sister's signatures, by proving what J. C. Bennett's secret wife sister really was.
At the time the sisters of the Relief Society signed our article, I was married to the prophet. We made no allusion to any other system of marriage than Bennett’s. His was prostitutioh, and it was truly his, and he succeeded in pandering his course on the credulity of the unsuspecting by making them believe that he was thus authorized by the Prophet. In those articles there is no reference to divine plural marriage. We aimed to put down its opposite.
Yours respectfully,
E. R. Snow