Addressing Smith's wife count, the essay notes that "careful estimates put the number between 30 and 40." For Joseph Smith's wife Emma, it was an excruciating ordeal," according to the essay, which is part of a collection issued over the past year. Their home territory of Utah was granted statehood as part of the deal, though some breakaway Mormon cults have continued the practice. Smith regarded his fledgling church as a restoration of the "ancient principles" of Biblical prophets such as Abraham, who practised plural marriage. The Church notes that Smith would not have consummated all the marriages as some were "eternity only sealings" - relationships to be taken up in the afterlife. There has been increasing focus on church teachings in recent years, as Mormon Mitt Romney ran for president in 2012 and the satirical musical The Book of Mormon continues to draw sell-out audiences in London and across the US. Eric Hawkins, an LDS spokesman, said the Church had completed a series of essays about polygamy at a time when the issue was under media scrutiny. He said that Smith's "plural marriage relationships" were not new. But Mormon commentators noted that the church has not chosen to discuss the issue in this public forum before. "Much of what you'll find in the essays on polygamy has been published in diverse sources and known among long-term and well-read members, historians and Church leaders for many years," Mr Hawkins aid. The Church has now gathered this information into a single location as a convenient means of placing these resources in the hands of all members.  We live in a world where there is so much information available on every topic. And particularly in the age of the Internet, there are both good and bad sources of information. As a Church, it's important for us to research and provide official, reputable, historically accurate information about our history and doctrine.