[37], The Kingston family and other members of the LDCC have faced two lawsuits, one in 2006[38] and another in 2022[39] accusing members and the organization as a whole of sexual abuses, including pedophilia and underaged marriages, within their membership. J. Ortell Kingston aggressively pursued a financially-expansive agenda for the Davis County Cooperative Society Inc.[25] in the hopes of improving the financial condition of his followers. Doctrinally, members of the LDCJC try to adhere to the teachings of the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Isaac Wyler, a former FLDS member who was excommunicated from the church . They can't do anything by themselves. At least six of Merlin's incestuously conceived children in turn married half-siblings, couplings that subsequently produced children with various deformities, says Rowenna Erickson, an ex-member who left her polygamous husband. I promised myself to find out the truth when I grew up. One brother, John Daniel Kingston, was taken to court for neglecting this children. She says her parents, Merlin Barnum Kingston (John Ortell's brother) and Joyce Fransden, were uncle and niece. . "Genetics of Incest: Pre-eclampsia is a condition that can be traced genetically from one generation to the next and is prevalent among some Kingstons, Rugg says. . The Southern Poverty Law Center recognizes the Kingston clan as an " incest and white supremacy " group for its practices outlined in Escaping Polygamy, which include teaching children to not associate themselves with non-white people and, as mentioned by the lawsuit, marrying underage children off to family members of The Order. . Elden theorized that living the law of consecration was still required, and he set forth to establish his own united order organization. . They are lucky if they can even move their head and eyes a little bit.'. BungieBungie.netBungieBungie "A Secretive Refrain: . Connie Rugg [is] one of John Ortell's estimated 65 children and one of a handful of Kingston relatives who have fled the clan. . [46], In July 2019, Jacob Kingston, Isaiah Kingston, and two others pled guilty to participating in a fraud scheme masterminded by Lev Derman, a non-member and Armenian national. Lesser known children hidden in families sympathetic to polygamists might remain ignorant of their genetic kinship. Connie Rugg, one of Ortells plural wives remembered: [Ortell Kingston] experimented inbreeding with his cattle and then he turned to his children.[4] Ortell desired to perfect his own bloodline and implemented practices that encouraged marriages of close relatives. present a troubling scenario for law enforcement: these are crimes of a sexual nature committed in private in a closed society. They are coming out of polygamous communities proliferating in Utah because Mormons are unable to face their history or follow sound marriage and childbirth practices. . "Several Kingston offspring of incestuous couplings also have been born without fingernails, a disease that could be linked to a number of genetically caused abnormalities, although an exact diagnosis is impossible without closer study of medical records. Members' financial holdings are believed to include: a 300-acre (1.2km2) dairy farm in Davis County; a 3,200-acre (13km2) farm in Tetonia, Idaho; a coal mine in Emery County;[24] 1,200 acres (4.9km2) in Terreton, Idaho; a cattle ranch and a discount store; Desert Tech Firearms; a grocery store; and a restaurant supply in many western cities including Tucson, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas, Boise, and Portland. 'If the community gets larger, the number of people with fumarase deficiency gets larger. . Over the past decades, the Kingston Group has maintained extreme secrecy while developing an extensive cooperative system, with wealth in at least 50 corporations in Utah and scattered across the West. . . If these couples are . . . The FLDS was formed by Mormons who refused to give up polygamy. ozpoof . A fourth to half of father-daughter and brother-sister offspring have mental or physical deficiencies. Certainly the British and French education systems make it clear quite early on (13-14 yrs old). . . . ", -Apostle Heber C. Kimball, as quoted Stanley P. Hirshon, "The Lion of the Lord: A Biography of Brigham Young" [New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969], pp. Literally, if they're 8 years old, it's like taking care of a baby.' "[2], According to a 2011 document prepared by the attorneys general of the states of Utah and Arizona, the church describes itself as emphasizing family values, education, self-sufficiency, and the belief that every child is a priceless blessing. . Tarby asked them to bring the girl to him for an examination. Not enough of the fumarase enzyme can lead to severe mental retardation and physical deformities. LDS scripture teaches that in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established (D&C 6:28; 2 Cor. Escaped members report some patriarchs believe it is their duty to give a daughter her first marriage lessons. Article continues below advertisement For the sisters, escaping polygamy is really real. Wyler says he once saw a fumarase deficiency child suffer a seizure while she was sitting with her mother and two other children also suffering from the disorder. Cases of fumarase deficiency have shown up in the FLDS communities in Colorado City and Hildale, and doctors believe that the incidence of the condition in these communities will increase in coming generations. (KUTV) Weeks after a Kingston polygamist clan member was charged in the death of her child, former members of that group are speaking out about what they say is a much bigger problem.Carolyn . That means the number of cases likely will grow. "John Ortell Kingston was the first Kingston to experiment with incest, marrying and bearing children with two half-sisters and two nieces, according to numerous ex-members of the clan. They ought to be ashamed of such conduct, and the still fouler channel which flows from their practices; and it is not to be wondered at that they should envy those who so much better understand the social relations. He interpreted his dream to mean that God approved of his leaving the Church. . [I]t appears that Joseph Smith Jessop and his first wife also passed on the rare genetic disorder fumarase deficiency. [Andrea] Moore-Emmett [author of 'God's Brothel: The Extortion of Sex for Salvation in Contemporary Mormon and Christian Fundamentalist Polygamy and the Stories of 18 Women Who Escaped'] contends that [in polygamy] incest, statutory rape, torture, physical abuse, forced marriages, and trafficking of girls is rampant. . Many members of the fundamentalist community don't even know it's occurring. 'I could choose, but it had to be a brother, uncle or cousin.' If the FLDS faithful believed that Jeffs was relying on science to determine marriages rather than divine revelation from God, he could lose control of the church. [6] Brooke Adams, Salt Lake Tribune, May 22, 2004. "Victims suffer a range of symptoms, including severe epileptic seizures, inability to walk or even sit upright, severe speech impediments, failure to grow at a normal rate, and tragic physical deformities. "If descendants of polygamy do not look critically at the ideas of their ancestors, Utah children may be increasingly at risk. . lost the priesthood which had come down to them from the Prophet Joseph Smith. Although it is a felony under Utah law for close relatives to have sex, only one Kingston -- John and LaDonna's fifth son, David Ortell -- has been criminally charged with incest. 'In the meantime, the taxpayers have to pay the bills. Five of the women suing alleged they were coerced into marriage as minors and raped by their husbands. In response to questions from the newspaper, Kent Johnson, a spokesman for the Davis County Cooperative. "Genealogists and especially epidemiologists must be scrupulous in identifying all the wives and children of any polygamist man. The Twelve Apostles of Mormonism then acted to increase this familial relationship by marrying other relatives until in 1877, at the end of Brigham Youngs reign as Mormon Prophet and King, the polygamous hierarchy became l00% interrelated. . . David Kingston is alleged to have married his 16-year-old niece Mary Ann Nelson, who attempted to run away but was apprehended and beaten by her father, John Daniel Kingston. [50][51], Davis County Cooperative leadership and members swiftly condemned the fraudulent behavior stating that "[Jacob] broke from tradition in many ways" and stressing "to members and non-members alike that this behavior is not in line with our beliefs or principles." --Letting the Genetic Genie Out of the Bottle: God Commands the Mormon Church to Enter Into Biologically-Destructive Practice of Polygamy. These babies usually do not leave the hospital and die as infants. "[52][46][53] In a recent lawsuit, ex-members allege that the WRE case was an example of the concept of "bleeding the beast." shocking stuff AFAIK it's quite contrary, for example MENA / Pakistan people very often marry 1st cousins. When asked to name his offspring by plural wife Mattingly Foster, Kingston came up with about five names before faltering, saying he was very nervous. After viewing a list of the children, he then attempted to name them but once more fell shortprompting the judge to supply the final child's name for him. living in Colorado City and Hildale are blood descendants of the Barlows and the Jessops, says Benjamin Bistline, a lifelong resident of the area who has published a book . "Throughout the world, most polygamy is exogamous, or breeding outside the group. Because the Lord introduced it to his servants in a revelation given to Joseph Smith, and the Lord's servants have always practiced it. . Then, while still a young man, [my cousin] died of nephritis, the fatal family inheritance. [54], The Utah holdings of Davis County Cooperative members were once estimated at more than $200 million,[9] and were believed to include the following:[55], For the church formally established by Joseph Smith in 1830, see. Upon Ortells death in 1987, leadership passed to his son Paul Elden Kingston. . "'Warren has to be really careful that he doesn't lose his position as a god to these people,' Wyler says. "Of the Kingstons, Williams says: 'There is not much you can do about them. The corporation produces goods and services that are used by members, and sold or traded to other cooperatives and to the public. KUTV When several businesses inside the Kingston polygamist empire, including Washakie Renewable Energy, was raided by federal agents Wednesday, officials where tight lipped. "The widespread presence of the fumarase deficiency gene in the bloodlines of the founding families of Colorado City is going to make reaching any such goal extremely difficult. Evidence exists that this gene pool foments a genetic and human catastrophe. This is inadequate information for purposes of establishing the true incidence of consanguinity within a family or community. "He sent her to live in a coal yard with other polygamous wives and their many children in South Salt Lake, visiting her rarely and usually only to have sex, she testified. Initially, she tried to conceal her marital relationship. I'd never heard of them, a polygamist, fundie cult where even 14 year olds could . Through diligent money management and hard work, the Davis County Cooperative Society became very financially successful. ", ("Mormon Polygamy: Frequently Asked Questions," at: http://www.i4m.com/think/polygamy/polygamy_summary.htm). . "Buried quietly on family farms, without notice of birth or death, child death often remains undocumented in polygamy clans. The word dispensation refers to two processes. His father wrote: Brother Elden received a new covenant up on the top of the highest mountain that is east of Bountiful, Utah. . "Parents who share a common ancestor are consanguineous. Jeffs is following a long-established practice -- started by Smith 170 years ago -- of excommunicating those who do not strictly adhere to church leaders' commands. The children live in the twin polygamist communities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. Thus this monogamic order of marriage, so esteemed by modern Christians as a holy sacrament and divine institution, is nothing but a system established by a set of robbers. 'And I've seen others that are totally laid out. 13:1). ", (Linda Walker, "Fatal Inheritance: Mormon Eugenics," under "Science as Culture," originally written in the fall of 1991, updated in the summer of 1999, citations included, at: http://human-nature.com/science-as-culture/walker.html) From the article, "Mormon Polygamy: Frequently Asked Questions": "[Mormon] Church founder, Joseph Smith, said he received a revelation from God, which is still canonized Mormon scripture as Doctrine and Covenants Section 132. The clan, known privately as the Order, runs what prosecutors believe is one of the largest organized-crime operations in Utah, overseeing its far-flung empire from a string of secret locations . . "The clan's other numerous incestuous couplings among consenting adults . . . 'I try in my own, quiet way and tell them to outbreed. I owe my children and all children who risk becoming the next unwitting victims of this tragic genetic legacy the best information regarding the prevention of this lethal family inheritance that I can find. The man's response was, "Up here, we are all related," Tarby says. . . Re: Polygamy's Patriarchy-Poisoned Bloodline: The Genetic Catastrophe That Has Sprung from Joseph Smith's "Divine" Breeding Program of Mormon Mutation . "'My mother should not have produced another baby," says Rugg, also Isabell and John Ortell's daughter and the baby's full sister. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Im a trophy husband with 3 wives they work while I stay home, I grew up in a cult with my dad, 5 moms and 44 siblings I loved my childhood, Polygamous leader accused of having underage wives pleads not guilty, I have 102 children but cant have more kids because of inflation, Squirrel to blame in temporary power outage in Minneapolis, Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, I'm a professional cleaner ditch these 4 household products immediately, Another train derails in Ohio, forces residents to shelter-in-place -- just weeks after East Palestine disaster, Tom Sandoval speaks out on Raquel Leviss affair: I deserve your anger, Shoeless Ariana Madix awkwardly tries to avoid cheating Tom Sandoval, Prince Harry was scared to lose Meghan Markle after fight that led to therapy, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant allegedly flashes gun at a strip club, Chris Rock Places All The Blame On The Will Smith Slap On Jada Pinkett Smith And Red Table Talk: Everybody Called Him A Bitch!, Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval have awkward moment amid cheating scandal. I do not know what we would do if we had only one wife apiece. "FLDS marriages, Wyler and other community experts say, are an extension of a breeding program that began with Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith in the 1830s. _____. Certainly if MORmON Jesus had done this, we would hear all about it from the LDS as *proof* that God was doing his modern work via MORmONISM, but alas there is no such manifestation ! 100 years later, eugenics is a discredited science, yet some followers still believe. "Some fumarase deficiency children, he says, develop a small degree of motor skills over time: 'They don't remain infantile their entire life. The stage was set for the appearance of the rare disease when their 12th child, Martha Jessop, married her second cousin, John Yeates Barlow, in 1923, according to LDS genealogy data and Colorado City historian Ben Bistline. "If female, they are married off to the few, powerful prominent males: incest is the fate of many teen-age girls. ", -Apostle Orson Pratt, "Journal of Discourses," vol. They maintain a secretive but powerful presence in Utah's Salt Lake Valley, and their estimated 7,500. She's worked for lawyers who brought these cases to light and needed help with mormon terminology and ward politics workings. The Kingston family first embraced polygamy around 1931 when, according to author Max Anderson, Charles W. Kingston helped produce a pamphlet that contained a version of Lorin C. Woolley's claims that former LDS Church President John Taylor had set aside a select group of men to carry on polygamy even as the church publicly disavowed the practice. . This is why those laws need to be enforced. The accusers also claim that the group arranged child marriages so that girls would become pregnant and beholden to their husbands and the religious sect. They purportedly have 10 children, the girl told police. People in plural marriages and held above those aren't. People who are members of the Kingston family by blood are held up higher than members of the Clan who are not also blood members of the Kingston family. [7], Plural marriage is practiced by some members of the LDCJC and members make their own choice in who they marry. The Latter Day Church of Christ,[1] is considered a Mormon fundamentalist denomination by some in the Latter Day Saint movement. Satan will try to stop the power of the Lord and that power is where the Lord has given his covenant of consecration and that is: to the Davis County Co-op of Bountiful, Utah. [47][48] The remainder of the transactions (over 94%) were to entities associated with Lev Derman, who prosecutors allege was the mastermind of the scheme. My great-grandfather, like scores of English immigrants eager to escape a life of poverty, . . . . "Although it is a felony under Utah law for close relatives to have sex, only one Kingston--John and LaDonna's fifth son, David Ortell--has been criminally charged with incest. Moore-Emmett suggests that the heavily Mormon Utah government is unduly tolerant of polygamy and reluctant to acknowledge the abuses of many polygamous families. Below are further horrific details of the Kingston clan's "God-given genetic calamity, brought to you courtesy of Joseph Smith's Mormonism, as reported in the "Salt Lake Tribune" article, "When Incest Becomes a Religious Tenet": ". Isaac Wyler, another lifelong Colorado City resident who was excommunicated from the FLDS in January 2004. "There is too little empirical data of uncle-niece, half-brother/half-sister mating to draw firm conclusions about the IQ, survival rates, birth defects or longevity of their offspring, he says. One of the guilty pleas states they cycled fraud proceeds through a number of international partners and then back to Washakie's bank accounts, falsely claiming them as loans or profits. "In this isolated religious society north of the Grand Canyon, few secrets have been more closely guarded than the presence of fumarase deficiency. "The children afflicted with fumarase deficiency from these three marriages include the grandchildren of Dan Barlow and his brother, the late Louis Barlow, and Merill Jessop, a top aide to fugitive prophet Warren Jeffs. One recent morning [John Ortell's niece and third wife, Mary Gustafson] defended her complicity in arranging her daughters' marriages to their half-brothers, sons of John Ortell and LaDonna. . . Tarby recounts a conversation he had with a member of the Barlow clan in which he tried to explain why so much fumarase deficiency was occurring among Mormon polygamists. . . soon . . But in a 2News . "They've got this idea that their blood is pure and that they want to keep it pure.'. . [10], According to his autobiography, Charles W. Kingston became disenchanted with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in 1926 because it abandoned plural marriage. "Religious leaders control all marriages in the community, and many of these relatives have married or likely will marry in the future. Since the natural male-to-female ratio is roughly 50-50, the ratio must be manipulated so that there are more females than males for polygamy to work. . That's the big problem.' . Re: Polygamy's Patriarchy-Poisoned Bloodline: The Genetic Catastrophe That Has Sprung from Joseph Smith's "Divine" Breeding Program of Mormon Mutation . ', "Wyler says he has seen some fumarase deficiency children who can walk, but others can barely move and spend their entire lives prone. Over the past decades, the Kingston Group has maintained extreme secrecy while developing an extensive cooperative system, with wealth in at least 50 corporations in Utah and scattered across the West. As bad as this past is, the mounting evidence is far worse. "'This problem is going to get worse and worse and worse,' predicts . 11, p. 128, ". . _____, --Petri Dishes of the Genetically-Destructive Effects of Mormon-Driven Polygamy: "Modern"-day Utah and Cross-Border Towns. "All of these men have or had multiple wives and scores of children. 'Right away I asked the parents if there were any other children with the same problem.' "Intermarriage among close relatives is producing children who have two copies of a recessive gene for a debilitating condition called fumarase deficiency. It gets pretty bleak when it gets that close.' Two weeks after is excommunication, Kingston had a dream wherein he believed he was visited by Jesus Christ and God the Father. . The organized Ku Klux Klan movement saw a boost in its membership in 2017. At the time this inbreeding took place these prophets preached and practiced modern eugenic science, the science of controlling the traits of future populations through selective breeding for idealized traits like blond hair, blue eyes and tall stature. 'Maybe it will just self-destruct,' historian Bistline says of the fundamentalist church he quit 20 years ago because of a dispute over religious doctrine and property ownership. The Kingston family owns an enormous amount of businesses in the Utah area which employ Kingston Clan members, and Merlin Kingston was no exception to this. It is also a place of child abuse (court cases verify), neglected Sister Wives due to Polygamist practices (former members report this), Incest (court cases verify), and spiritual abuse (former . He also married a woman descended from polygamy. In their own words, as quoted in a sister article that asks the question, "Is Monogamy the Ruin of Civilization?" [T]he one-wife system not only degenerates the human family, both physically and intellectually, but it is entirely incompatible with philosophical notions of immortality; it is a lure to temptation, and has always proved a curse to a people. "For us parents the future health and happiness of ourselves, our children and grandchildren are at stake. Carolyn regularly worked at and tended . Naming a father could expose the truth, unveil secrets of paternity and subject the clan to further scrutiny from those who don't approve of incest. The parents said their daughter had cerebral palsy. . The 1996 Utah Legislature approved first-cousin marriages, only after age 65, or age 55 if the couple cannot conceive children. and Privacy Policy. They offer no support, no exit route and no programs for the people trapped inside polygamy endeavoring to escape these closed polygamous communities or compounds. 'I said, "You're married to somebody you're related to. Tarby. "The same right of marriage approval was wielded by John Ortell Kingston, who began the incestuous lineage. . "Every person carries some lethal genes. . [23][36] These relationships are defined as incestuous according to Utah's Criminal Code 76-7-102 (2021), which states: "Related person" means a person related to the provider or actor as an ancestor, descendant, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, or first cousin, and includes: (i) blood relationships of the whole or half blood without regard to legitimacy; (ii) the relationship of parent and child by adoption; and (iii) the relationship of stepparent and stepchild while the marriage creating the relationship of a stepparent and stepchild exists. Assets are generally estimated to be in the range of $200 million, although one Colorado competitor gave an even more stratospheric guess, pegging the clan's wealth at $11 billion. This is a humane coping strategy devised to deal with a dilemma that devastated a woman taught from birth her only value was in the number of children she bore for the Kingdom of God. The complaint against the Kingston Group also known as the Order was filed in Salt Lake City last week by 10 people, including Amanda Rae Grant, who starred in the A&E docu-series Escaping Polygamy.. The State of Utah stated: "It was a specific investigation that we were approached by [federal law enforcement] to participate in." . The Kingston Clan is a polygamous group with an estimated 10,500 members. This practice has been attributed to "endogamous preference and the small size of the groups population" according to recent research from the University of California. _____. Brigham Young calling some one else a thief especially "women thieves" ABSOLUTE HILARITY ! [4] Andrea Moore-Emmett, Gods Brothel (San Francisco: Pince-Nez, 2004), 88. Early persecution seems to have conditioned Kingston leaders to maintain the utmost secrecy, but third generation officers seem to use ignorance as a tool to enhance control of their followers, especially of women. my question is: How come MORmON god does not get on board with His own programs? '", (John Dougherty, "Forbidden Fruit: Inbreeding Among Polygamists Along the Arizona-Utah Border is Producing a Caste of Severely Retarded and Deformed Children," in "Phoenix New Times," 29 December 2005, at: http://www.childbrides.org/taxes_PNT_forbidden_fruit.html) [39], In 2016, the State of Utah with federal law enforcement raided various properties in connection with the Kingston family or Davis County Cooperative Society with the intention of finding welfare fraud. ", ("Understanding Polygamy," from "Humanists of Utah, an Incorporated Utah Non-profit Corporation Has a Mission to Promote Joyful Living, Rational Think)ing, and Responsible Behavior," July 2005, at: http://www.humanistsofutah.org/2005/UnderstandingPolygamy_July-05.html) The lone man suing said three Order men raped him when he was 16 or 17 and that when he left the group and announced he was gay, was tracked down and severely beaten by a group of boys acting at the direction of the Order, the lawsuit alleges.