. 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. According to historian Brian Hales Modern Polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism: The Generations After the Manifesto, Brother Elden, as he was also known, had five wives and 17 children. . Recordings of church testimony given by various Kingstons serve as further evidence of the cults bigoted teachings. Another of Ortells teachings: Adolf Hitler had the right idea about creating a master race, but didnt have the Lords help, so he failed. And the Genealogy Department advises genealogists to follow only their direct line; in this instance meaning only the wife who is their mother, not other wives of their father. Fumarase deficiency, however sensationalized, is not the only genetic disorder found here. I am convinced they do. He also married a woman descended from polygamy. Dont the infant deaths and tales of horrific deformities belie Ortells homespun eugenics? "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. Is it a requirement to gain the highest levels of heaven? "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. This is all compounded by the split between the FLDS and an offshoot group of polygamists that moved to nearby Centennial Park following a disagreement over how the community should be governed, and by whom). "It's not really talked about; I don't think [people here] even research to see how related they are" before getting married or pregnant, she adds. 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. Those affected by the genetic disorder suffer grand mal seizures and often have facial feature deformities and severe mental retardation, with IQs as low as 25. . Initially, she tried to conceal her marital relationship. Then, while still a young man, [my cousin] died of nephritis, the fatal family inheritance. Many members of the fundamentalist community don't even know it's occurring. 'And is that religion popular in heaven?' Wyler's ex-wife's sister has had two babies afflicted with fumarase deficiency. When it comes to racist Sunday school lessons, the polygamous Kingston clan could teach the Ku Klux Klan a thing or two. "They would hand them over and say, 'Would you mind please taking care of them, because we can't?' Mary Nelson, 23, tells "Whistleblower" host Alex Ferrer about how she escaped the Kingston clan, also known as The Order, . In 2003, Order member Jeremy Kingston pleaded guilty to incest for taking his first cousin, 15-year-old Lu Ann Kingston, as his fourth wife. A rare neurological disorder characterized by water on the brain, muscular stiffness, adducted thumbs and aphasia, x-linked hydrocephalus is expressed only in men and carried by women. 'A lady comes in and helps her. lucky Dawna asks me. 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. . _____, --Inbreeding for the Lord: the Mutative Aftermath of LDS-"Inspired" Polygamy Among Mormonism's Doctrinal Adherents. . Former Order members tell of babies being born nearly every week in the church. "And my oldest daughter, she's 18 and she's dated a couple of my cousins, which makes them her second cousins, and we're like, Eww, that's gross.". . . In an office several hundred miles from where Young gave his speech, a 10-year . Dawna Black Bistline (Alyssa Bistline's father's brother's wife) has seen firsthand how the children of cousins suffer. Therefore, to keep the bloodline 'pure,' the Kingstons intermarry--half-brothers and sisters, uncles and nieces, aunts and nephews, and so forth. ", ("Understanding Polygamy," from "Humanists of Utah," at: http://www.humanistsofutah.org/2005/UnderstandingPolygamy_July-05.html). . . Pentecostal . In a letter to the Intelligence Report responding to allegations made by former members, Kent Johnson, a spokesman for the Davis County Cooperative Society, claimed that The Orders foundational principles include the Golden Rule, and that the church rejects any form of racism or bigotry. For instance, Quinn writes, '[O]ver 20 General Authorities were married to such lesser known wives.' . Dawna says that, when people refer to what's going on over in the Cane Beds, they say it's probably another turkey baster situation. Obsessed with the purity of their bloodline and empowered by a sense of entitlement on par with the divine right of kings, the Kingstons have made incest the cornerstone of a self-serving theology that loathes non whites, fosters homophobia and abhors government authority. . Those twoand a fifth boyalso suffer from the condition that all of this family's sons were born with: x-linked hydrocephalus. 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. . and last updated 1:46 PM, Feb 24, 2021. Only the FLDS prophet can arrange and perform polygamous marriages, and those marriages are taking place in a community in which almost everybody is related. To date Mormons have only paid lip service to stopping polygamy. If male, some of these same 'worker bees' marry only once. . "Our ancestral destiny meant we might give birth to sons who would die at maturity or daughters who would carry the trait to the next generation of sons. 'In the meantime, the taxpayers have to pay the bills. "All of these men have or had multiple wives and scores of children. restricted in some polygamous sects, including FLDS groups in Colorado City, Arizona; Hildale, Utah; and West Texas, that force some of the young males to leave the communities . . . "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. Hospital harm., While part of The Order, Val Snow, a twenty-something gay man with a wry sense of humor, believed being gay was like spitting in the eye of God. Snow is the son of Daniel Kingston, whom he paints as a little man with a lot of power.. In this regard, officially-canonized LDS scripture that currently endorses polygamy is not the only image problem for the Mormon Church (thank you, Warren Jeffs). There are baby graves year that date back as earlier as the 1950s, potentially even earlier: many are unmarked. . . Before the call ended, Young insisted that he didnt admit to any kind of incest or anything. When Intelligence Report inquired if Young thought there was anything wrong with first cousins getting married, Young opined that such issues were between the individuals involved and God. . 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. A loyal Order member for years, he lost his faith and ended up leaving the Order over a curse of sorts, leveled at his family by LaDonna. . . On the show's pilot, the trio bring a burly security guard along as they help a woman sneak into her own home to grab belongings for herself and her two young daughters. She says her parents, Merlin Barnum Kingston (John Ortell's brother) and Joyce Fransden, were uncle and niece. My great-grandfather, like scores of English immigrants eager to escape a life of poverty, . It is bordered to the north by a well-maintained lot where there sits a stately red brick home with UEP (United Effort Plan, the church trust which is now controlled by the state of Utah in the aftermath of Jeffs' conviction) spelled out in white brick on its south-facing side. "Dr. Theodore Tarby has treated many of the children at clinics in Arizona under contracts with the state. We pass the house she grew up in with her mother, three eldest brothers, and father before he was kicked out of the cult. . "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. "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. : About half of the 8,000 people living in the towns are blood relatives of two of the founding families that settled in the 1930s on the desolate high desert plateau against the base of the Vermillion Cliffs. "A Secretive Refrain: . All of this is to say that incest and inbreeding have been going on for so longand so prevalentlyin the polygamous sects along the Utah/Arizona border that these stories have been woven into the fiber of the communities. ", (Joseph Carroll, "One in Four Americans Think Most Mormons Endorse Polygamy; Only 2% Think Most Americans Support Polygamy," by Gallup News Service, Princeton, New Jersey, 7 September 2006, at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/24388/one-four-americans-think-most-mormons-e). Well, my sister had a little baby with a cleft lip; it was her first child and it had a cleft lip and cleft palate, because they were both Jessops, and Jessops are carriers of that gene. Brigham Young calling some one else a thief especially "women thieves" ABSOLUTE HILARITY ! "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. "Have you ever heard of the term The Turkey Baster?" FOX 13 . There have also been charges made that some plural wives and their children have . Also known as the LDCJC, the Kingston Clan, and The Order, it is a religious organization created by members of the Davis County Cooperative Society or DCCS in 1977. Rather than take steps to avoid the problem, the FLDS loyalists may believe it is their duty to accept their fate. _____. "Throughout the world, most polygamy is exogamous, or breeding outside the group. Andrea grew up in a small two-bedroom home in a Kingston-owned coal Kingston clan birth defects. Isaac Wyler, another lifelong Colorado City resident who was excommunicated from the FLDS in January 2004. "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. As bad as this past is, the mounting evidence is far worse. 'They just don't worry about the effects of intermarriage.'. Black blood was the worst thing you can have, Jessica said, particularly since the Kingstons consider themselves to be the whitest of the white, descended directly from Jesus Christ and King David, the Middle Eastern origins of both men notwithstanding. "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. "During this early period, polygamy was practiced secretly by the Mormon leadership, men who covertly preached and expanded polygamy while publicly deceiving the general Mormon population about the practice. Some of you may not believe this, but I not only believe it but I also know it. . Now let me just simply state: He took care of them. . Branches of the polygamist mans family left out of the genealogy will change the incidence of common ancestors and potentially mask the true disease risk and incidence in the community. One of the most devastating hereditary malformations is fumarase deficiency, a rare genetic condition marked by severe mental retardation and seizures. Seated on a couch, sipping lemonade in his home in a Salt Lake City suburb, he resembles Paul Kingston quite a bit. 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. Indeed, regardless of facing crushing federal government opposition to polygamous inbreeding, true-blue Mormons remain convinced that you can't keep a good man of God down To them, polygamy will be coming back some day, with sizable numbers of the faithful flock confident that its eugenic genetics will return by order of Joseph's Jesus. They maintain a secretive but powerful presence in Utah's Salt Lake Valley, and their estimated 7,500. "Fumarase deficiency is caused by a lack of the fumarase enzyme, an essential component in a biological process called the Krebs cycle, which converts food into energy within each cell. "'Those boys are the most moral, upstanding and wonderful people I know,' she said, clutching a grandchild to her thin hip. ("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. Until the 1990s, there were only 13 known cases of FD in the world. . Okay, I have one legal wife, he said. "But this is a very unlikely scenario for FLDS faithful, who practice a religious doctrine that requires men to be strictly obedient to religious leaders and requires women to give birth to as many children as possible to increase the sect's numbers. 5, p. 22. A retired Arizona law enforcement officer, Browning is the president and founder of the Skinhead Intelligence Network and is in charge of security for the A&E show, where his wife Tawni works as the casting producer. He shares a last name and a not-too-distant relation with the polygamous LeBaron group in Chihuahua, Mexico. "Tarby says the disease could begin to show up in children at Warren Jeffs' new FLDS headquarters . 'Most of what you print is lies, lies, lies.' 'The downside is that if you don't start with good genetics, and if there is baggage in the genes of the individual, inbreeding will uncover that baggage. Fear began to overwhelm me, for the future, and for my own son. 'He wanted to control his children and grandchildren through genetics. . Boys began to show interest in Julie as she matured, but Paul, as the clans leader, warned them away, because of Julies black blood. They are quick to point out to reporters that they no longer practice polygamy and excommunicate members who continue to do so. Half and full siblings are marrying in religious ceremonies. "An unknown number--but believed to be in the thousands--of Barlow/Jessop descendants carry the recessive gene that causes fumarase deficiency. Geri and I ask the same question at the same time: "What exactly do you mean by took care of them? . "'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. "My father and her grandmother were full brother and sister," she explains, recognizing the bloom of confusion on my face. "I'm like, Really? . So when you see all of these diseases occurring in the children, it's possible some are the result of inbreeding.'. She directs me to the houses she lived in after that: her stepdad Jim Jessop's home; then the rotten, roach-infested house she and her mother shared with nearly two dozen cousins and friends after being removed from Jim's following the Judgment. . When it comes to racist Sunday school lessons, the polygamous Kingston clan could teach the Ku Klux Klan a thing or two. As for its anti-government views, allegations of fraud against government entities have long dogged the Kingstons. "It's like any inbred disorder," Tarby says. This denial is hollow considering the record. John Daniel Kingston seen here in 1999, pleading no contest to beating his 16-year-old daughter after she attempted to flee an arranged marriage with her uncle David, Kingstons brother. If two descendants of hierarchical polygamy marry, the chances for genetic defects increase if the families were ever interrelated. "'Polygamy leads to sexual predation, and that leads to genetic problems,' says . Because God loves that man, and because he honors his word. According to many of the individuals interviewed for this story, these children are seen as special angels sent from God to the FLDS community. Escaped members report some patriarchs believe it is their duty to give a daughter her first marriage lessons. . Because that one is going to be genius-level purity, and thats what The Order is looking for., Photo Credit: AP Images / Leah Hogsten, Pool (John Daniel Kingston); AP Images / Jeffrey D. Allred / Pool (Jeremy Kingston), SPLC is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization (EIN: 63-0598743). The FLDS was formed by Mormons who refused to give up polygamy. In 1999, Pauls younger brother David Ortell Kingston was convicted of taking his 16-year-old niece as wife number 15. . In their own words, as quoted in a sister article that asks the question, "Is Monogamy the Ruin of Civilization?" As people age the chances of children inheriting mutant genes increases. "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. Isaac wyler, another lifelong Colorado City resident who was excommunicated from the FLDS in January 2004 http //www.humanistsofutah.org/2005/UnderstandingPolygamy_July-05.html. Lebaron group in Chihuahua, Mexico Understanding polygamy, '' she explains, recognizing the bloom of confusion on face... 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