Accordingly, Elden became the first prophet of the Kingston Group and established the Davis County Cooperative Society. They are Utah-based, unlike the FLDS where the escapes are mainly Arizona-based. John Gustafson, a representative of the Davis County Cooperative Society, an affiliate of the Kingston Group, disputed the lawsuits claims. . Paul continued to practice his fathers ideas regarding intra-family marriages. . . and Privacy Policy. "', "'Joseph Smith was also selecting for the "obedience gene." "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. However, Grant claims she endured years of sexual abuse by a half-brother as a child. . . . . "There is no doubt in the mind of any expert interviewed by 'New Times' that the practice of polygamy combined with inbreeding has fostered the spread of fumarase deficiency. Elden passed away from cancer in 1948 and was succeeded by his brother John Ortell Kingston (commonly known as Ortell). . [8][3] There are approximately 3,500 members,[9] some of whom are known to practice polygamy. "Then, as generations of polygamous Kingston children have been taught, they demurred to questions about their father. "Farm Roots of Incest: Marriages in the Kingston clan must be sanctioned by [the] current head of the church . . [15][16] The Grand Jury was described as "The polygamist hunting Davis County Grand Jury" by the Ogden Standard-Examiner in 1959. "It was . . . 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. They are quick to point out to reporters that they no longer practice polygamy and excommunicate members who continue to do so. Brigham Young calling some one else a thief especially "women thieves" ABSOLUTE HILARITY ! The Bear Clan's Kevin Walker told Global News on Wednesday that while the organization is still actively hitting Winnipeg streets, the way they operate has changed due to COVID-19. . Now, let's examine how "God-ordained" Mormon polygamy has wreaked unholy genetic havoc on its faithful followers: --Case Study on Polygamous Mormonism's Genetic Disease Striking Home: The Linda Walker Story. KUTV When several businesses inside the Kingston polygamist empire, including Washakie Renewable Energy, was raided by federal agents Wednesday, officials where tight lipped. The suit includes ten former members alleging the organization used marriages to "unlawfully make girls and their children religious martyrs and traffic them for sexual and labor purposes". I think most people are made aware of the problems caused by inbreeding (a nicer word than incest) when they are still young teenagers. "Medical experts say the incidence of the disorder will increase because the FLDS community is refusing to accept recommendations to reduce the likelihood of producing babies with fumarase deficiency. ', "Wyler says he has seen some fumarase deficiency children who can walk, but others can barely move and spend their entire lives prone. Blood tests showed the infant and 25 other children from numerous women were fathered by the same man, leading to one of the largest welfare fraud-settlements in Utah history. "An unknown number--but believed to be in the thousands--of Barlow/Jessop descendants carry the recessive gene that causes fumarase deficiency. . . . When the Lord chose Brother Elden through which to send this new covenant, all other covenants were thereby dissolved. 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. "They've got this idea that their blood is pure and that they want to keep it pure.'. 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. The Latter Day Church of Christ,[1] is considered a Mormon fundamentalist denomination by some in the Latter Day Saint movement. Your IP: That apparently was John Ortell Kingston's intent, although most studies of first-cousin mating show their offspring test lower on IQ exams, Jorde says. 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. [1] Charles William Kingston, Autobiography, 2324; spelling and punctuation standardized. "Recovery from Mormonism - www.exmormon.org", http://www.lds-mormon.com/quinn_polygamy.shtml, http://www.i4m.com/think/polygamy/polygamy_summary.htm. [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. Convinced they are breeding a pure white master race, they blame the mother if a deformed baby is born then preach she was unrighteous or unclean. Nobody, from the police to [the governor], cares that these children are abused from conception to marriage.'. Current scientific knowledge indicates Grants lack of sons resulted from his own genetic defect, since only men carry the male Y chromosome to make a son. . "'My mother should not have produced another baby," says Rugg, also Isabell and John Ortell's daughter and the baby's full sister. . "For us parents the future health and happiness of ourselves, our children and grandchildren are at stake. 'Right now, we are just looking at the tip of the iceberg.'. During the 1920s, hundreds of dissenters from the LDS Church gathered into specific groups across the Wasatch Front. 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. _____, --Conclusion: Mormonism is Sick--and So (Genetically Speaking) Are the Faithful Followers of the LDS Legacy of Blood-Poisoned Polygamy. . . lucky Had these defects clumped in my own family as it seemingly appeared to me? Most populations outbreed and so these lethal genes rarely match to cause any serious diseases. Photocopy in authors possession. . One of the most devastating hereditary malformations is fumarase deficiency, a rare genetic condition marked by severe mental retardation and seizures. "All of the fumarase deficiency children Wyler has seen remain dependent on the parents or caregivers. They have no movement. The group has drawn legal attention before. Women and girls, after theyre married, submit to their husbands and men answer to higher-ranked men, the suit alleges. Young is the owner of Desert Tech, a Utah gun manufacturer. The Kingstons represent an intriguing branch on the Mormon fundamentalist tree. _____, --How "God's Genes" Do Ugly Things: The Biological Attack on "Modern"-day Followers of Mormonism's Originally-"Revealed" Doctrine of Polygamy. ". on the flat hay fields that stretch from the edge of Woods Cross to the crusty shores of the Great Salt Lake, that John Ortell Kingston studied the genetics of in-line breeding. . They purportedly have 10 children, the girl told police. With the dawn of the twenty-first century, lawsuits and education among Kingston followers would combine to create new obstacles, as leaders perpetuate this financially spiritual hybrid organization. . "Including Utah, 37 states outlaw first-cousin marriage. "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. 'If you cross a Barlow and Jessop, you stand a high risk of getting this condition,' Tarby says. We specifically read that the law of consecration is designed to administer to the poor and the needy (D&C 42:35). Re: Polygamy's Patriarchy-Poisoned Bloodline: The Genetic Catastrophe That Has Sprung from Joseph Smith's "Divine" Breeding Program of Mormon Mutation . [7] Upon the creation of the LDCJC, most members of the DCCS became members of the church and most retain dual membership in both organizations to this day. "[44] Members claim they have been broadly and unfairly targeted by authorities for the negative actions of a small few. . . . "'It would have been unusual if he wasn't using artificial insemination in his herd, and by virtue of that, was probably using semen from some bulls that had been inbred,' says Dennis Green, a professor of beef cattle genetics at Colorado State University. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a302ff8194befb0 They operate in Salt Lake Valley, Utah. . The notoriety will just make them zoo specimens. 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. "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. So many young people.'. . The early Mormon Church practiced polygamy until 1890, when leaders abandoned the practice as a condition for Utah to gain statehood. 'As soon as I saw her, I knew she had the same thing as her brother,' Tarby says. 'And yet nobody wants to do anything about it. 'They are functioning way below their chronological age.'. Many members of the fundamentalist community don't even know it's occurring. One outspoken Mormon matriarch who attended the same Sunday meeting for 50 years commented about the health of the polygamous descendants versus the monogamous descendants, 'You see it in the obituaries. "Until the test is available, Tarby says, the best prevention measure remains refraining from crossing Barlows, Jessops and their relations--who make up half the population of the polygamist enclave. Re: Polygamy's Patriarchy-Poisoned Bloodline: The Genetic Catastrophe That Has Sprung from Joseph Smith's "Divine" Breeding Program of Mormon Mutation . Eldens father related that Elden told him that was ordained by J. Leslie Broadbent (Lorin Woolleys successor) in 1934, although precisely what that ordination represented is unclear. "'Incest as a policy or routine practice is rare,' says Melvin Williams, a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan and a leading expert in the study of kinship systems. "Of the Kingstons, Williams says: 'There is not much you can do about them. . "'It makes you sick; it turns your stomach,' she says. For a man of God to be confined to one woman is small business. Surely, there were too many deaths. . . . . . . joined the Mormons in Zion, the new Promised Land, trading a life of mining for religious hope. The FLDS was formed by Mormons who refused to give up polygamy. [18][7], The Cooperative had its birth during the Great Depression when many families struggled immensely to provide for their families. 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. . . As found in: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Factional breakdown: Mormon fundamentalist sects, "Unlikely whistleblower helps uncover alleged half-billion tax scam by secretive polygamist sect members", "Inside 'The Order,' One Mormon Cult's Secret Empire", The Primer, Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities, "Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism", "John Ortell Kingston (Elden's Brother) Leads 1948-87", "Patterns of Polygamy Davis County's Kingston clan - County's polygamy roots run deep", "Kingston pleads guilty to incest charge", "Incest could be behind probe of Kingston family", "2021 Utah Code:: Title 76 - Utah Criminal Code:: Chapter 7 - Offenses Against the Family:: Part 1 - Marital Violations:: Section 102 - Incest -- Definitions -- Penalty", "New allegations of abuse in the polygamous Kingston family", "Utah polygamist sect accused of indoctrination, rape and child marriage", "As trial nears end, critics of polygamous towns wonder whether verdict will matter", "Polygamists are urged to make public statement", "Shurtleff: Child bride polygamous marriages appear to have stopped", "No longer performing child-bride marriages? [w]omen do not have the freedom to consider how often she can give birth and maintain her health. This resulted in his excommunication from the LDS Church in 1929. . [I]t appears that Joseph Smith Jessop and his first wife also passed on the rare genetic disorder fumarase deficiency. Or was it true no one knew the answers, because they could not be known, because no one wanted to know? "Her book . Nearly all the Mormon founding families were relatives, so the first polygamists enjoyed relations to different degrees when the divine experiment began. , says he has firsthand knowledge of multiple fumarase deficiency children in each of the three families. . "If descendants of polygamy do not look critically at the ideas of their ancestors, Utah children may be increasingly at risk. . . 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. . . 'A lady comes in and helps her. 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. 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. . The Kingston Clan is a polygamous group with an estimated 10,500 members. It gets pretty bleak when it gets that close.' . They are lucky if they can even move their head and eyes a little bit.'. 'But just on general principles, the offspring of uncle-niece, or half-siblings have an elevated level of genetic disease. a royal priesthood upon the Earth, and he has introduced a plurality of wives for that express purpose.'. 'We do know there are biological hazards. But now that it was appearing in two children in the same family was an indication it was being spread by a gene that was getting passed to the children by their parents. . . 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. Because the Lord introduced it to his servants in a revelation given to Joseph Smith, and the Lord's servants have always practiced it. ("Doctrine & Covenants," Section 132, verses 55, 62-63), "Joseph Smith also testified an angel with a sword came to him many times and commanded him to practice polygamy or else he would lose his life. 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. died of multiple sclerosis, also leaving a family of small children behind. "The discoveries and research within my own kindred so alarmed me that I studied other descendants of polygamy to see if their families also suffered from crippling illnesses. "Wyler said it's all part of the community's religious system. "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. Through diligent money management and hard work, the Davis County Cooperative Society became very financially successful. . 'Right away I asked the parents if there were any other children with the same problem.' '90% of the community is related to one side or the other,' said Bistline, a former member of the sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Aleck is a geneticist who participated along with Tarby and others in the groundbreaking study of several polygamous families with fumarase deficiency in the late 1990s. "When [my cousin] died, my childish vow surfaced and I began to look into my family history for some answers. "It is Moore-Emmett's belief that the LDS Church who started polygamy in this country should take responsibility and provide financial aid and other resources for those polygamous families who have been abused. "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. 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. Initially, she tried to conceal her marital relationship. ", (Greg Burton, "When Incest Becomes a Religious Tenet: Practice sets 1,000-member Kingston clan apart from other Utah polygamous groups," in "The Salt Lake Tribune," 25 April 1999, at: http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy25.html . Duringa 2020 trialfor a California businessman accused of carrying out a nearly $500 million biodiesel fraud scheme with a member of the Kingston Group, attorneys for the businessman called the Kingstons an incestuous polygamous group that is always scheming to defraud the US government in what the group calls bleeding the beast., A spokesman for the group, Kent Johnson, called those allegations categorically false.. "When ancestors are revered as prophets and kings, it is difficult to admit or examine the possibility of this legacy. "Farm Roots of Incest: Marriages in the Kingston clan must be sanctioned by [the] current head of the church . "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. ", -The Prophet Brigham Young, "Journal of Discourses," vol. ". Early polygamy was rife with incestuous and eugenic ideas and practices as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmhjgaB2Hi8. [11] Some members had begun the practice of plural marriage years before the establishment of the cooperative. He faces up to 30 years in. [N]ew disease classifications belong at the door of the Mormon Church leadership. "There is no cure for the disease, which impedes the body's ability to process food at the cellular level. lost the priesthood which had come down to them from the Prophet Joseph Smith. The accusers describe a patriarchal doctrine known as The Law of One Above Another, which they claim designates everyone a rank in the groups hierarchy. 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. 3, p. 291, "I have noticed that a man who has but one wife, and is inclined to that doctrine, soon begins to wither and dry up, while a man who goes into plurality [of wives] looks fresh, young, and sprightly. . . . . . refuse to accept advice from any outsider, including doctors such as Tarby, who has treated their children for years. ozpoof That leads to problems." From an "Associated Press" news report, "Doctor: Birth Defects Increase in Polygamy Community": "A rare, severe birth defect is on the rise in an inbred polygamous community on the Arizona-Utah border, according to a doctor who has treated many of the children. [4] Andrea Moore-Emmett, Gods Brothel (San Francisco: Pince-Nez, 2004), 88. [27] It is not affiliated with the mainstream LDS Church. It appears my kinship group is suffering from clusters of rare recessive genes. . "The rate at which Kingstons marry each other is 'frightening,' she says. Re: Polygamy's Patriarchy-Poisoned Bloodline: The Genetic Catastrophe That Has Sprung from Joseph Smith's "Divine" Breeding Program of Mormon Mutation . [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. [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. We dont expect any of the claims to prevail in a court of law.. The Kingston Group is not affiliated with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) based on the Utah-Arizona line that is run by imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs, who. Polygamy today is comprised of early Mormon polygamy descendants and these families are now interrelated by a factor impossible in monogamy. 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. 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. . 'He wanted to control his children and grandchildren through genetics. Why is this? . . The Kingston Clan is where Jessica, Andrea, and Shanell escaped over a decade ago. "Warren Jeffs, like Joseph Smith before him, has emphasized the importance of obedience among members of the church. 'They are totally helpless,' he says. "'One lady I know, she just cannot physically pick [her son] up anymore to get him into the bathtub,' Wyler says. _____, --Inbreeding for the Lord: the Mutative Aftermath of LDS-"Inspired" Polygamy Among Mormonism's Doctrinal Adherents. Reading the ignorant responses of the polygs - particularly in the face of the evidence all around them - makes my blood boil. Excerpts from the article "Understanding Polygamy," distributed by "Humanists of Utah": " . "Dr. Vinodh Narayanan, a pediatric neurologist at St. Joseph's Hospital, says he is seeking funding to develop a test that would allow public health officials to collect voluntary blood samples from as many FLDS members as possible. . Readily accepted as a problem among mothers past the age of 35, it is rarely discussed as a problem when fathers are over 35, let alone 80. Legitimate businesses, including those in the Cooperative, argued that Jacob hid the scheme from business partners as well as Co-op leadership. . . But women who are disobedient and fail to bear children including because they miscarry face ostracism, the lawsuit claims. 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. The word dispensation refers to two processes. The Cooperative itself was established in 1935. Believing that Elden received lost priesthood keys in 1935 also seems to contradict an 1837 scripture given to Joseph Smith stating that the priesthood had then (in 1837) been restored for the last time: For unto you, the Twelve, and those, the First Presidency, who are appointed with you to be your counselors and your leaders, is the power of this priesthood given, for the last days and for the last time, in the which is the dispensation of the fulness of times (D&C 112:30; see also D&C 27:13). . The chickens are coming home to roost. "'Those boys are the most moral, upstanding and wonderful people I know,' she said, clutching a grandchild to her thin hip. . Their brains, he says, 'are strangely shaped' and are frequently missing large areas of brain matter that has been replaced by water. present a troubling scenario for law enforcement: these are crimes of a sexual nature committed in private in a closed society. This is why the state and federal government enacted legislation against polygamy. 'I don't know how many who die within the first two or three years that we don't even ever know about. "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. Second, that prophet organizes his followers into missionary forces that dispense the truth to all the world, utilizing the priesthood to perform saving ordinances. . In the l950s, research doctors thought we were one of the few families in the world with this form of nephritis, known as Alports syndrome. The samples could be tested for the gene at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix. . [21] Over the past 25 years, many members have become college-educated and live in middle-to-upper-middle-class homes throughout their communities. . "Of all the arguments against incest, says Jorde, the likelihood that genetic abnormalities will be passed to succeeding generations is the most persuasive. . He interpreted his dream to mean that God approved of his leaving the Church. 'Escaping Polygamy' is a docuseries on Lifetime which follows the work of three sisters, who were able to break free from the polygamous Kingston Clan, known as the Order. . thus marking the first time news media reported this human and civil rights nightmare accurately since the 1850s. "Recently, another cousin fathered a child born with spinal bifida, inherited paralysis, an anomaly related to nephritis. 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. But rather than amassing a fortune for the sake of accumulating wealth or to simply sustain a few selected leaders, donations flow into the Church coffers and out again to provide financial support for the accomplishment of the Churchs responsibilities regarding missionary work, temple work, and providing for physical welfare needs. 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). ", -Prophet John Taylor, "Millennial Star," vol. Certainly the British and French education systems make it clear quite early on (13-14 yrs old). Precisely where Elden obtained valid priesthood authority is a matter of dispute. If these couples are . . "Every person carries some lethal genes. All are retarded, the neurologist told Salt Lake City television station KSL-TV. . . Several charges of incest would eventually be leveled against various Kingston members. Eventually, she admitted she had married her half-brother and given birth to three children. . "It is important that Mormons fight the tendency to discount history and the actions of their leaders in favor of a faith- promoting history while neglecting important facts. . She suffered from. [39] The 2022 complaint was filed by attorney, Roger Hoole,[39] an attorney known for representing ex-members of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 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. . You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Brigham Young waited until 1868, twenty-one years after arriving in Utah, to actively promote it, and John Taylor ceased emphasizing it shortly after becoming President of the Church. But in a 2News . "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. Polygamy would have afforded the opportunity of producing from that consecrated fatherhood and motherhood the improved type of man the world needs to reveal the highest possibilities of the race, that the day of the super man might come, and with him come also the redemption and betterment of the race.'. . That means the number of cases likely will grow. They maintain a secretive but powerful presence in Utah's Salt Lake Valley, and their estimated 7,500. ", -Apostle George A Smith, "Journal of Discourses," vol. "Community historian Ben Bistline said most of the community's 8,000 residents are in two major families descended from a handful of founders who settled there in the 1930s. "With a well-thought-out plan," Hope After Polygamy explains, "she was successful; the judge granted her emancipation when she was 17 years old. 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. "In addition, the Mormon Church touts itself as the quintessential traditional family values church .