"'I tried to get people to come, but nobody would listen,' says the mother, who left the group and her marriage after her sons were diagnosed with dwarfism. . ", And despite the LDS Church's highly suspect claim of having genuinely abandoned the doctrine and practice of polygamy in 1890 (see D. Michael Quinn's historically-devastating essay that got him excommunicated for telling the truth, "LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904," at: http://www.lds-mormon.com/quinn_polygamy.shtml), many Mormons, in fact, still believe that the practice of multi-wifing will someday be reinstituted "[b]ecause the doctrine is still part of official Mormon scripture (see 'Doctrine and Covenants,' Section 132). [23] The group claims no preference for any particular family or surname stating members join every year "from a variety of different backgrounds and surnames. . [22][23] Currently the group claims that although different skillsets bring different financial outcomes, there is no homelessness within the DCCS, and internal programs exist for those experiencing financial poverty.[2]. Children of the latter variety, he says, 'can't crawl. . "Sterility is another consequence of consanguinity and the evidence of many sterile polygamous wives is overwhelming. . There is no doubt about that at all. . 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. Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more. 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 inadequate information for purposes of establishing the true incidence of consanguinity within a family or community. 11, p. 128, ". . Source: Twitter Jessica with her husband and three daughters. . . But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low (D&C 104:16). . I'd never heard of them, a polygamist, fundie cult where even 14 year olds could . Reading the ignorant responses of the polygs - particularly in the face of the evidence all around them - makes my blood boil. 'Right away I asked the parents if there were any other children with the same problem.' . Eventually, she admitted she had married her half-brother and given birth to three children. So when you see all of these diseases occurring in the children, it's possible some are the result of inbreeding.'. . . Second, that prophet organizes his followers into missionary forces that dispense the truth to all the world, utilizing the priesthood to perform saving ordinances. 'I really doubt that if we could tell them, you know, "This male has the condition and this female has the condition; you shouldn't mate," that wouldn't stop them,' he said. [6] Brooke Adams, Salt Lake Tribune, May 22, 2004. 'And is that religion popular in heaven?' "When asked, a little boy and girl at the home acknowledged who their mother is. Interview with the owner of Desert Tech: The son of Paul's sister Rachel herself a daughter of Ortell and LaDonna Kingston [Nick] Young was the only current member of the Kingston clan, out of the many contacted for this story, who consented to a live, on-the-record interview. thus marking the first time news media reported this human and civil rights nightmare accurately since the 1850s. Women, meanwhile, allegedly gain status by being pure of blood and obedient, becoming the first wives of higher-ranking numbered men, and bearing many children. 'Right now, we are just looking at the tip of the iceberg.'. It didn't find any. The Kingston Clan, also known as The Order is a Mormon based group that is far more like an organized crime family and cult than religious organization. . "Researchers have identified a gene on the first chromosome that causes fumarase deficiency, but no test has been developed that could be used to identify individuals carrying the malady. Three of their children suffer from serious inherited disorders. He interpreted his dream to mean that God approved of his leaving the Church. FOX 13 Investigates: Non-profit run by polygamous Kingston group - KSTU "Every person carries some lethal genes. And in 1999, David Ortell Kingston Jeremy Kingston's uncle was sentenced to the Utah State Prison for up to 10 years for committing incest with the 16-year-old niece who became his 15th wife. "Joseph Smith Jessop and his first wife, Martha Moore Yeates, had 14 children. Tarby. [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. Lesser known children hidden in families sympathetic to polygamists might remain ignorant of their genetic kinship. The Kingstons represent an intriguing branch on the Mormon fundamentalist tree. _____. "'I knew I would have to marry my [half-] brother ever since I was 12,' says the woman. "Her half-brother is still married to another half-sister (whose parents also were half-sister and brother) and are still members of the Kingston's order. _____. ", ("Mormon Polygamy: Frequently Asked Questions," at: http://www.i4m.com/think/polygamy/polygamy_summary.htm). Childbirth would be fraught with despair and guilt for me and for many family members. Winnipeg's Bear Clan still active during pandemic, despite 'small COVID . Some of you may not believe this, but I not only believe it but I also know it. "The rate at which Kingstons marry each other is 'frightening,' she says. Children are allowed to attend public school and many go on to college. Despite its on-going public relations effort to convince Americans that Mormons don't really support polygamy (and despite the belief of many devout Mormons that polygamy came from God as revealed church doctrine which will eventually be reinstated when Jesus returns to the Earth), a quarter of Americans surveyed also have expressed the opinion that most Mormons embrace the idea of plural marriage: "A . For a man of God to be confined to one woman is small business. After two years of investigating, they did not find any welfare fraud. . Splinter Group: Latter Day Church of Christ (Davis County - MRM 'They don't believe anything written about Colorado City [by outsiders, even medical experts] carries much truth,' Tarby says. When you pair up those undesirable genes, something strange will pop out.'. LuAnn Kingston, a former member of the clan who in 1995 at age fifteen was forced to marry her first cousin, shared: The joke used to be that if you werent married by 17, you were an old maid.[5], Within the Kingston Group, the primary polygamists are the immediate Kingston family and heirs. . . Brother Elden had received a new dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. [1], The Church . "Tarby and a team of doctors from Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix and the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson began researching the disease and soon discovered that fumarase deficiency was occurring in at least two other families living in the same isolated community that practiced an unusual custom. 'They have the authoritarian structure necessary to keep this from happening, but I don't think they have the advanced thinking,' Aleck says. "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. Jacob Kingston pleaded guilty to 41 charges, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud, aiding/assistance in filing a false claim, money laundering and obstruction. "For us parents the future health and happiness of ourselves, our children and grandchildren are at stake. The group has drawn legal attention before. 'As soon as I saw her, I knew she had the same thing as her brother,' Tarby says. Elden clearly claimed to hold the priesthood keys, saying, I have those keys of power.[3]. As bad as this past is, the mounting evidence is far worse. . Escaping polygamy and the Kingston clan: Whistleblower Mary Nelson on "'I had never seen a patient with it,' Tarby says. . . 'He wanted to control his children and grandchildren through genetics. 'So often when you have an uncle-niece, or half-brother-sister, you have a situation where abuse is going on,' Jorde says. John Gustafson, a representative of the Davis County Cooperative Society, an affiliate of the Kingston Group, disputed the lawsuits claims. "Ex-members' claims of incest are bolstered by court records claiming John Ortell 'failed either to support or acknowledge' three children by his niece, (Susan) Mary Gustafson. Kingston Clan : r/FundieSnarkUncensored - reddit SALT LAKE CITY A local non-profit with ties to the polygamous Kingston group is facing multiple questions and accusations regarding its taxes. [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. ", -Prophet John Taylor, "Millennial Star," vol. Like any fundamentalist Mormon sect, the Kingston Clan is very hierarchal. 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. I think most people are made aware of the problems caused by inbreeding (a nicer word than incest) when they are still young teenagers. v. Kingston, et al., Third Judicial District Court of Salt Lake County, UT (2022)", "Fallout from Washakie fraud could cost polygamous Kingston Group members their businesses and homes", https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/07/29/fallout-washakie-fraud/, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Latter_Day_Church_of_Christ&oldid=1137075084, Jason Kingston allegedly had a relationship with his half-sister Andrea Johnson, who became pregnant in 1992. Various congenital and genital defects, dwarfism, fused limbs, fingernails lacking, mental illness and mental retardation, spina bifida, and microcephalous are some of the diseases and mutations. Supposedly, these sacrifices are part of the united order. Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints elders, who control the community, have labored to keep the public from finding out why the disorder is manifesting. . Federal agents raid Utah offices of polygamous Kingston 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. "When [my cousin] died, my childish vow surfaced and I began to look into my family history for some answers. _____. . Isaac Wyler, another lifelong Colorado City resident who was excommunicated from the FLDS in January 2004. "Dr. Tarby, who routinely treats fumarase deficiency children at a state-funded clinic in Flagstaff, says, 'They are funny-looking kids [with] biggish heads and coarse, thick features.' The Ku Klux Klan is the oldest American hate group, and while the number of active KKK chapters declined in 2016, members of the Klan are trying to regain ground. . "John and Charles' brother, Merlin Barnum Kingston, married and had children with four nieces and a half-sister, say ex-members, including one of his own daughters. LDS scripture teaches that in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established (D&C 6:28; 2 Cor. . 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. "The same right of marriage approval was wielded by John Ortell Kingston, who began the incestuous lineage. Meanwhile, as Mormons wait patiently and faithfully for multi-wifery's official return, the words of their founding Church fathers sound praise to polygamy past, present and future: --The Mormon God's Declaration of Righteous Genetic Combinations: Monogamy is a Christian Blight on Humanity, While Polygamy is the Lord's Way to Produce Fresh, Virile Men; Good-Lookin' Women; and Super Strong Stock to Carry Civilization Into Eternity. . . If such a test were developed, a community-wide screening program could be instituted that would identify those carrying the fumarase gene. "'They claim to be the chosen people, the chosen few,' Bistline said. . Have you also noticed all the genetic and other debilitating defects, deformities and diseases that comes along with your poisoned patriarchal plurality-of-wives club? "Fast-forward . 15, p. 227, -Kimball, "Journal of Discourses," vol. From her article, "Fatal Inheritance: Mormon Eugenics": "[My] cousin], [her sister] and I all grew up to marry and start families of our own. People are always trying to find people who are inferior and brand them as such.' . he says. When Incest Becomes a Religious Tenet - culteducation.com The children who can't walk, the medical experts say, have most likely suffered strokes during severe seizures. "Another problem in polygamy is a mans breeding years are expanded sometimes into his 80s by the taking of new wives. [49] As part of the plea deal and restitution, the company forfeits rights to a number of assets including their bio-fuel plant in Plymouth, Utah. . Why do we believe in and practice polygamy? [18][7], The Cooperative had its birth during the Great Depression when many families struggled immensely to provide for their families. These defects could be life threatening like nephritis and spinal bifida, or merely debilitating like asthma. . The sisters were born into the Salt Lake City-based group and since they didn't choose the lifestyle, they decided to escape. . ozpoof Jacob Kingston told prosecutors the company was capable of producing some amounts of biodiesel, but in no year did it ever produce more than 8.5 million gallons. 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. FOX 13 spoke to the man who filed the IRS. She suffered from. . I began to think polygamy might be a genetically unsound marriage practice. . 'In the meantime, the taxpayers have to pay the bills. . a royal priesthood upon the Earth, and he has introduced a plurality of wives for that express purpose.'. But that's like spitting in the ocean.'. [14] Some of their secrecy might be attributed to a fear of arrest for living in plural marriages, as had happened in 19591960 when being investigated by the Davis County Grand Jury, which some members claimed was organized by LDS Apostles Mark E. Peterson and Spencer W. [7] Members of the Latter Day Church of Christ are also members of the Davis County Cooperative Society (a separate organization and legal entity) which practices the law of consecration and United Order. Never miss a story. 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. Escaped members report some patriarchs believe it is their duty to give a daughter her first marriage lessons. . This nurse has a polygamous background, so does her husband. . "'My guess is this man had used some of these inbreeding practices in his herd so he was probably in the camp that believed superior genetics could be propagated in a particular line,' Green says. . "Two years later, a pair of geneticists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., flew to Utah where they hoped to stage a seminar for Kingston family members about the dangers of incest and birth defects, and, presumably, gain permission to study the clan. Kingston members today generally claim that keys were received anew from heavenly messengers directly to Elden in 1935, although it appears he left no formal testimony to that effect. And it takes two of them to get him into the bathtub just to wash him down and clean him up.' This resulted in his excommunication from the LDS Church in 1929. The Kingston sisters were able to help her escape although Ava wanted to stay with her family, she knew she couldn't give up her sense of self and continue watching the cycle of abuse continue. . Then, while still a young man, [my cousin] died of nephritis, the fatal family inheritance. . The Doctrine and Covenants admonishes the Saints to look to the poor and the needy, and administer to their relief that they shall not suffer (D&C 38:35). 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. . [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. . 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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Mormons can now see why American citizens passed laws intended to stop polygamy, a relic of unwise prophecy, laws continuously disregarded in Utah, a state controlled by the Mormon Church, if they will only look. Some of these marriages will include parents who both are carriers of the fumarase deficiency gene, making it certain that more children will be afflicted with the disease. 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. . This means all other covenants were of no effect through which source they can. . . "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. "', "'Joseph Smith was also selecting for the "obedience gene." "Throughout the world, most polygamy is exogamous, or breeding outside the group. My aunt and uncle outlived two of their five children and two more may have nephritis. on a 1,600-acre ranch outside of Eldorado. The three marriages between second cousins have produced at least eight children afflicted with fumarase deficiency, according to a report in the May 2000 'Annals of Neurology' (based on the study conducted by the group led by Tarby and Aleck), interviews with doctors treating the disease and anecdotal evidence gathered from the community. . 13, p. 195, "We breathe the free air, we have the best looking men and handsomest women, and if they (non-Mormons) envy us our position, well they may, for they are a poor, narrow-minded, pinch-backed race of men, who chain themselves down to the law of monogamy, and live all their days under the dominion of one wife. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use . ", -The Prophet Brigham Young, "Journal of Discourses," vol. . Investigate the Kingston Clan: wealthiest polygamous cult in the U.S . . . . Breeding within, as Mormons did--endogamous polygamy--is virtually never practiced. Consequently, genetic diseases and mutations have inevitably sprouted in many polygamous groups having this belief. . " 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. But women who are disobedient and fail to bear children including because they miscarry face ostracism, the lawsuit claims. . . "Wyler said it's all part of the community's religious system. . 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 founders of that ancient empire were robbers and women-stealers, and made laws favoring monogamy in consequence of the scarcity of women among them, and hence this monogamic system which now prevails throughout Christendom, and which had been so fruitful a source of prostitution and whoredom throughout all the Christian monogamic cities of the Old and New World, until rottenness and decay are at the root of their institutions both national and religious. . "This gene cluster effect happens when people with common ancestors marry and bear children. [19] For many years, members of the Co-operative lived in poor conditions, and those in need had no legal way to apply for assistance. [28][29], During the first years of the Davis County Cooperative Society, Elden Kingston and his followers wore unique blue denim outer garments that led to people referring to them as "blue-coats." He tells community residents that they should undergo genetic screening before marriage, but they've ignored the suggestion, Tarby said. "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. "Roughly one in four Americans say 'most Mormons' support the practice of polygamy . I hate to talk like this about my own genealogy,' Wyler says, 'but, literally, they are keeping all the breeding stock--the women, the [strictly faithful] men--and weeding out the disobedient men. All are retarded, the neurologist told Salt Lake City television station KSL-TV. . . . It is true that the LDS Church has collected tithes and offerings in the millions of dollars over the past decades. And Jeffs so far has shown no indication that he is concerned about the increasing prevalence of fumarase deficiency children in the community, former FLDS member Isaac Wyler says. It alleges sex trafficking, sexual battery and child abuse, and seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages. "Finally exposed in the news, the facts of life inside [the Mormon offshoot Kingston clan's] religious/cult compound are stunning Mormons, Utahans, the nation, and the world. "Goodman soon made a startling discovery: Tarby's young patient was afflicted with an extremely rare disease called fumarase deficiency. Desert Tech Ownership Warning : r/longrange - reddit 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. http://www.azcentral.com/health/news/articles/0209PolygamyBirthDefect09- http://www.childbrides.org/taxes_PNT_forbidden_fruit.html, http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy25.html. . Where Are Escaping Polygamy Cast Members Now? - The Cinemaholic 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. Even if a genetic screening test were available, Wyler says, Jeffs would have to be cautious about how he allowed it to be implemented. the tight-lipped adult answer, 'We dont know,' seemed woefully inadequate. . [30] This practice lasted only a short time and was abandoned sometime before 1940. [9][34], Active members and a recent independent research article by a professor from Santa Clara University have attributed the practice to "endogamous preference and the small size of the groups population". 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. . . 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. "Marriages among first and second cousins have been common for decades in the community, where religious doctrine requires men to have at least three wives to gain eternal salvation. Escaping Polygamy - Wikipedia 75.119.192.80 . [39], The organization continues to publicly denounce the practice of child marriage,[41][39] and maintains that marriages within the group are not coerced. "Of even greater concern was the fact that the recessive gene that triggers the disease was rapidly spreading to thousands of individuals living in the community because of decades of inbreeding. Who is the insider on Escaping Polygamy? - Monsters and Critics "If both parents are descendants of polygamy, the children may be at even greater risk. Isaac Wyler, a former FLDS member who was excommunicated from the church . Lucky was the first to die in my generation. "Of all the arguments against incest, says Jorde, the likelihood that genetic abnormalities will be passed to succeeding generations is the most persuasive. Asserting that 'the attitude between Mormons and Mormon fundamentalist polygamists is that of kissing cousins with more similarities than differences.' . The action you just performed triggered the security solution. "Buried quietly on family farms, without notice of birth or death, child death often remains undocumented in polygamy clans. Yet, this practice may hide the actual genetic kinship and can further exacerbate genetic problems. "The only long-term solution to the health crisis is for Barlows and Jessops to have children with spouses from outside the polygamist community. Faced with the forced marriage to an uncle, Rugg left the Kingstons. "While discussing health problems at a family gathering with some of my cousins wives, we discovered astonishingly that three out of four of us, all polygamy descendants, had borne a son with a clubfoot. [12] In 1977, Elden's brother Ortell Kingston began to file for legal recognition of the church later organized as The Latter Day Church of Christ. "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. . 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.