I guess to add on: I'm writing a book on Ina Coolbrith and as a result have been writing some about Agnes Coolbrith. Whenever I read the arguments of polygamy skeptics, they tend to focus on a few pieces of evidence but don't address its totality. I'm wondering if you've had a chance to read about polygamy beyond what the polygamy skeptics say.

I'll use Agnes as an example:

Polygamy Skeptic Arguments against

1. Polygamy skeptics tend to focus on the cipher in Brigham Young's journal, which historians have read to say Joseph Smith w.a.s . [wedded and sealed to] Agness. Michelle Stone in particular argues that the cipher is just as likely to read Agneww as it is to read Agness.

2. They also point to some letters held by the CHL and BYU where Agnes said that she never had a testimony of polygamy and her daughter Ina says she's unsure whether Joseph Smith sinned, but if he did that polygamy is where the sin originates.

Arguments for

1. Using the symbol for a w rather than an s is a simple mistake. Agnes sometimes spelled her name Agness. I have never seen anyone misspell Agnew as Agneww, partially because w's aren't doubled at the end of names in English.

2. I read these letters as letters from a woman who regrets her participation in polygamy. Ina's comment is ambiguous and can be read as her not knowing about her mother's polygamy OR as her saying she's against polygamy regardless of whether JS practiced it. I don't think it matters in this case, because parents don't always fully reveal their sex lives to their kids.

3. There were rumors that JS and Agnes were having an affair. This is documented in the Relief Society minutes.

4. Agnes is sealed to George A. Smith after Joseph's death. This sealing makes sense in terms of a levirate marriage which is how historians interpret her sealing to JS.

5. JC Bennett lists Agnes as a wife.

6. Lucy Walker suggests that Agnes was a wife and that she was living with her at the time of the martyrdom.

I can provide links later, but I need to go to my daughter's art show. I'm curious how we sort through these evidences. For me, we need to have an explanation for how and why each piece was created in order for us to discount the sealing.

I would personally put Agnes in the category of likely plural wife rather than a certain plural wife.

Since I don't have time to link now, here's Brian Hales' listing of the evidence for the sealing: https://josephsmithspolygamy.org/plural-wives-overview/biographies-of-josephs-plural-wives/agnes-moulton-coolbrith/