Acknowledgments

I would like to express appreciation to the many individuals who have lent their support to this dissertation project. I want to first thank my committee for their helpful recommendations with prior drafts of this project. I want to thank Dr. Susan E. Black and Dr. Larry C. Porter for taking part in this project even though it is not a part of their professional responsibilities. Their Church history expertise has been invaluable and greatly contributed to the final product. I also want to express many thanks to Drs. James M. Harper, Maxine L. Rowley, and Robert F. Stahmann for being a part of my committee. I am grateful for these faculty members’ insights on marriage and family relationships, which helped in identifying the parameters of this project.

I especially want to express gratitude to Drs. Harper and Porter for opening up funding that greatly enhanced my research. As a result, I was able to visit the Community of Christ Library–Archives in Independence, Missouri, and the Nauvoo, Illinois, region to conduct original research. In summer 1999, Dr. Porter also extended an invitation for me to travel to Palmyra, New York, and Harmony, Pennsylvania, that provided me an opportunity to visit many historical sites related to this study.

I want to thank the personnel at the Community of Christ Library–Archives, LDS Church Archives, and L. Tom Perry Special Collections at Brigham Young University for their assistance in researching related materials. Finally, I want to thank my wife, Daylene, for her untiring support over the course of this project. ^[v]