... it was decided pertaining to work for the dead that it would be permissible to seal a woman to more than one husband in cases where there had been children by more than one husband and it was not known which husband she preferred. ... The woman would have the right to make her own choice in the hereafter as to which of the husbands she would wish to be sealed to. President Brown said he did not feel to favor this decision. [President Hugh B. Brown] ...thought that the matter of the relationship of these people who were dead and concerning whom we had not knowledge should be left for solution in the next world, and not clutter our records with a lot of sealings of one woman to several husbands. ... President [N. Eldon] Tanner reported that this entire question had been discussed by the First Presidency a short time ago * [and] that Brother [Howard W.] Hunter's argument, with which he agreed, was that when we seal a woman to any man in cases of those who have passed away[,] it is arbitrarily done and we do not know whether this man was the woman's choice or not ...the children were sometimes at a loss to know what to do about their genealogy, sealings, etc., ... He mentioned that our former practice was to seal this woman to her first husband unless it was known that she wanted to be sealed to one of her subsequent husbands, and all of this was arbitrary, that, for instance, one family wanted her sealed to their father and another family wanted her sealed to their father, and they wouldn't have any direct line to follow unless this was done... President Tanner mentioned that President [Joseph Fielding] Smith at the time said he could see no greater problem in that event. President [Alvin R.] Dyer had at first questioned it and then thought it was the right thing to do. ... President Tanner further mentioned that President Smith had made the statement in writing that there will be a transference of sealings[,] and if that is true it would be simple to make the transfer according to the woman's choice. President Tanner asked me if I wanted to hold the matter up for the present and I said absolutely.
[Source: David O. McKay diary, Feb. 3, 1969 as quoted in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]
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