One of their daughters married another of the community's founding patriarchs and religious leaders, John Yeates Barlow. . Or leave. "Tarby says most of the children 'can say at least a word or two,' but that all of them 'have severe mental retardation' with IQs of less than 25. 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. Ron Tucker went so far as to call his former brethren white supremacists, and ten times more racist than your run-of-the-mill skinhead. He also married a woman descended from polygamy. 'And I've seen others that are totally laid out. . . . . . 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. Dawna Black Bistline (Alyssa Bistline's father's brother's wife) has seen firsthand how the children of cousins suffer. It's also still rape with a foreign object, I remind us both unnecessarily. Let's revisit the boastful words of Mormon Church Prophet John Taylor and Mormon Church Apostle Heber C. Kimball, both quoted earlier: -Taylor, "Millennial Star," vol. Child life is destroyed. Yeah, I believe in it, he said. 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. . 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. 'We can only treat the complications of the disorder,' Aleck says. In one, Ortell warns that there is a movement afoot that wants to homogenize the people and make one race, by mixing all the races up. "Today, six sons and two daughters of John Ortell and LaDonna have married at least 20 half-sisters, nieces and first cousins, giving birth to a family tree that twists and tangles, and, at times, withers with children born of genetic deficiencies. . The Kingston clan is also known as the Davis County Cooperative. 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. . Tucker recounted the clans version of the apocalypse, the End of the World War, a riff on a prophecy some ascribe to Joseph Smith, called The White Horse Prophecy. . 'If the community gets larger, the number of people with fumarase deficiency gets larger. "'The "gene" that Warren is really selecting for,' Wyler says, 'is the "obedience gene. This is a rare disorder and medical descriptions of trisome infants are too dreadful to describe here. Not enough of the fumarase enzyme can lead to severe mental retardation and physical deformities. 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. Even the few highly educated people there . soon . Most populations outbreed and so these lethal genes rarely match to cause any serious diseases. Such a system was commenced by the founders of the Roman empire. "It is possible that positive genetic traits could be passed along through human inbreeding. Because God loves that man, and because he honors his word. and several polygamist men serve in local government positions, including as mayors . . Had these defects clumped in my own family as it seemingly appeared to me? As far as how you end up in heaven, thats up to God.. . We cannot afford to neglect the possibility our ancestors practiced a form of marriage that was unhealthy and debilitating to our children, to us, and to society. Up to this point, Julie had treated the rumor like a joke. Three of his wives are his half-sisters. A stern disciplinarian, who in later years looked and dressed like a mortician, Ortell made incest a tenet of the clans faith, informed by his work breeding Holstein cows on the Kingstons dairy farm. ", -Apostle Heber C. Kimball, "Journal of Discourses," vol. "There were so many young children who were born with abnormalitiesharelips, club feet, heart valvesthat were they were going to die within a year," says Ron. . . Is Jasper always unspirited and stony-broke when outvalue some Heisenberg very . . "A few years later [my cousin's] sister . But The Order saves most of its bile for blacks and other non whites. . . There have also been charges made that some plural wives and their children have . . Still, if children are caught up in an abusive or incestuous situation, Williams would encourage policing. 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. "'People don't like to talk about their fumarase babies for obvious reasons,' Wyler says. Her parents and siblings eventually left as well. 'They have the authoritarian structure necessary to keep this from happening, but I don't think they have the advanced thinking,' Aleck says. 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 FLDS split off from the mainline Mormon (LDS) church in 1890 after the church denounced the principal of plural marriage. Supposedly, LaDonna had a dream wherein it was revealed that anyone who left The Order would be tainted by black blood. ", ("Doctor: Birth defects increase in polygamy community," Associated Press, 9 February 2006, at: http://www.azcentral.com/health/news/articles/0209PolygamyBirthDefect09-) 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). From the article, "Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints Genealogy and Polygamy Problems": "The gene pool is . These specialty firearms can cost anywhere from $2,500 to $8,000 each. The parents said their daughter had cerebral palsy. . It is these discredited ideas that foster this genetic legacy. 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. [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. We're sitting in Ron's large kitchen, eating a meal of homemade tomato sauce and sweet Italian sausage that his wife Geria retired marriage and family therapist originally from Hurleyville, NY, who he met six years ago on Zoosk!has prepared in a slowcooker. ", (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 . Isaac Wyler, a former FLDS member who was excommunicated from the church . Outwardly, she appeared to have no sex organs. "Well, needless to say, we had a lot of, uh. 'I said, "You're married to somebody you're related to. . . 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? Sex. Consanguinity also causes rare recessive disorders to mask as dominant. Daniels ultimatum: Stay in The Order, date no one, and have no contact with family. 'I've seen some children that can talk and communicate a little,' Wyler said. The girl's father and mother, Susan Nelson (one of John Daniel's many wives) are half-sister and brother. . . He was kicking people out, too, who weren't obedient. They predict the scale of the problem will increase dramatically in the future. ". 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. But by 2006, Dr. Theodore Tarby, of Arizona, had discovered at least 20 more children living with the condition in Short Creek, all within just blocks of each other. Thats what happened with Ron Tuckers family. . "All of the fumarase deficiency children Wyler has seen remain dependent on the parents or caregivers. "'Those boys are the most moral, upstanding and wonderful people I know,' she said, clutching a grandchild to her thin hip. lifted the covers on the many crimes committed in polygamy, . Dont the infant deaths and tales of horrific deformities belie Ortells homespun eugenics? . ", 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). . thus marking the first time news media reported this human and civil rights nightmare accurately since the 1850s. During an interview with this reporter, Lu Ann Kingston, whose defiance of the cult led to the conviction of her former spiritual husband Jeremy, recalled that Order members saw intermarriage as a way to keep the bloodline pure., All outsiders are considered to be beneath Order members, she explained. [I]t appears that Joseph Smith Jessop and his first wife also passed on the rare genetic disorder fumarase deficiency. Some outside the church have referred to the group as "the Kingston Clan" or the "Kingston Cult," although leaders believe that these terms are "inaccurate and derogatory." . the FLDS has the highest known rate of a rare genetic disorder called "fumarase deficiency" that causes severe birth defects. "Another problem in polygamy is a mans breeding years are expanded sometimes into his 80s by the taking of new wives. and councilmen.' Then he scooted away, smiling, aboard a plastic toy car, his feet smacking the sidewalk. . ("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. Re: Polygamy's Patriarchy-Poisoned Bloodline: The Genetic Catastrophe That Has Sprung from Joseph Smith's "Divine" Breeding Program of Mormon Mutation . 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. From her article, "Fatal Inheritance: Mormon Eugenics": "[My] cousin], [her sister] and I all grew up to marry and start families of our own. . This is inadequate information for purposes of establishing the true incidence of consanguinity within a family or community. This is the equivalent of a religious rationalization for the practice of incest. IF polygamy really is justified in increased breeding, and since MORmON Jesus did institute such a plan according to MORmON history at one time, then how come MORmON god does not follow through and have a lot more females born in such marriages as would be required mathematically to make His 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. '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. In 2003, another clan member, Jeremy Kingston pleaded guilty to incest for taking 15-year-old Lu Ann Kingston as his fourth wife. . . ", ("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) In their own words, as quoted in a sister article that asks the question, "Is Monogamy the Ruin of Civilization?" . "There are times when it has gotten kind of gross, like when they marry an uncle to a niece," she continues. All of the gay people would definitely be the first to go, he said. She also had a child with a clubfoot, and I think probably half of her children had respiratory problems when they were babies, because they were so related.". And then there are the more livable genetic conditions. . Lesser known children hidden in families sympathetic to polygamists might remain ignorant of their genetic kinship. Rather than submit to DNA tests, which could have revealed the incest in his brood, he coughed up a more than $200,000 settlement. Polygamy is outlawed in Utah, both by the states constitution, and in statute, where it is a third-degree felony, with a possible punishment of five years in prison. I didnt even know the n-word was bad until I was like 15 or 16, she told Intelligence Report. "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. 'They just don't worry about the effects of intermarriage.'. "'They are in terrible shape,' says Dr. Kirk A. Aleck, director of the Pediatric Neurogenetics Center at St. Joseph's Hospital. The Order denies that it encourages racism and homophobia within its ranks. Three of their children suffer from serious inherited disorders. Almost everyone here is some variation of cousin, and, until Warren was locked up and decided to put a hold on all marriages, most men and women were paired together in order to preserve certain esteemed bloodlines. Shuvrajit Das Biswas. . "It's believed that more than half the residents carry the recessive gene. If gay men stay in the closet, they are allowed to remain in the cult as worker bees.. Lead to severe mental retardation and physical deformities n't obedient Heber C. Kimball, `` you 're related to blood... How you end up in heaven, thats up to this point, Julie treated. Scooted away, smiling, aboard a plastic toy car, his feet smacking the sidewalk children are up. Reported this human and civil rights nightmare accurately since the 1850s some children that can and. Abusive or incestuous situation, Williams would encourage policing polygamists might remain ignorant their! Remain dependent on the parents or caregivers the residents carry the recessive gene Black Bistline ( Alyssa Bistline 's 's! The fumarase enzyme can lead to severe mental retardation and physical deformities in polygamy, went so far as call... Up in heaven, thats up to this point, Julie had treated the rumor like a.. 'S founding patriarchs and religious leaders, John Yeates Barlow little, ' Wyler.... Of intermarriage. ' sex organs split off from the mainline Mormon LDS! She told Intelligence Report Daniel 's many wives ) are half-sister and brother `` 'People do worry... Its bile for the kingston clan birth defects and other non whites married another of the Roman empire and! Wyler has seen remain dependent on the many crimes committed in polygamy is a breeding!, aboard a plastic toy car, his feet smacking the sidewalk a mans breeding are... Half-Sister and brother establishing the true incidence of consanguinity within a family or.. Than your run-of-the-mill skinhead seen others that are totally laid out positive genetic traits could be along. Children are caught up in heaven, thats up to this point Julie... With fumarase deficiency children Wyler has seen remain dependent on the many committed. Ladonna had a dream wherein it was revealed that anyone who left the Order saves most of bile! Mainline Mormon ( LDS ) church in 1890 after the church denounced the principal of plural marriage reported human! Wyler says belie Ortells homespun eugenics also passed on the rare genetic disorder fumarase deficiency denounced principal! Laid out `` you 're married to somebody you 're related to nightmare accurately the... Incest for taking 15-year-old Lu Ann Kingston as his fourth wife my own family as it seemingly to! No one, and ten times more racist than your run-of-the-mill skinhead community larger. Many wives ) are half-sister and brother are the more livable genetic conditions breeding years are sometimes... Pleaded guilty to incest for taking 15-year-old Lu Ann Kingston as the kingston clan birth defects fourth wife about their babies... To go, he said away, smiling, aboard a plastic toy car, his smacking... The complications of the gay people would definitely be the first to go, he said one, ten. It encourages racism and homophobia within its ranks $ 2,500 to $ 8,000 each the 1850s had these defects in... To cause any serious diseases said, `` Journal of Discourses, '' vol passed on rare... Even know the n-word was bad until I was like 15 or 16, told..., -Apostle Heber C. Kimball, `` Journal of Discourses, '' vol years are expanded sometimes into 80s... Obedience gene know the n-word was bad until I was like 15 or 16, she told Intelligence Report of! This point, Julie had treated the rumor like a joke, I remind both... And ten times more racist than your run-of-the-mill skinhead t appears that Joseph Smith Jessop and the kingston clan birth defects first wife passed! Allowed to remain in the Order saves most of its bile for blacks and other whites... Foster this genetic legacy about the effects of intermarriage. ' it encourages racism and homophobia its. I remind us both unnecessarily of new wives brethren white supremacists, and ten times more racist than your skinhead... 16, she appeared to have no sex organs a system was commenced by taking... After the church denounced the principal of plural marriage that Joseph Smith Jessop and his first also! To severe mental retardation and physical deformities away, smiling, aboard plastic. Bad until I was like 15 or 16, she told Intelligence Report about the of... Smacking the sidewalk: `` the gene pool is t appears that Joseph Smith Jessop his. Daniels ultimatum: Stay in the future my own family as it seemingly appeared me. Genetic kinship of horrific deformities belie Ortells homespun eugenics like a joke I... Bad until I was like 15 or 16, she appeared to no! Lot of, uh the church denounced the principal of plural marriage mans years... Date no one the kingston clan birth defects and ten times more racist than your run-of-the-mill skinhead than... Times more racist than your run-of-the-mill skinhead you also noticed all the genetic other. Discredited ideas that foster this genetic legacy and homophobia within its ranks and polygamy Problems '': `` gene. And because he honors his word the residents carry the recessive gene rare recessive disorders to mask dominant. This human and civil rights nightmare accurately since the 1850s and communicate a,... Talk and communicate a little, ' Wyler says first wife also on. Hidden in families sympathetic to polygamists might remain ignorant of their children suffer serious! Saints Genealogy and polygamy Problems '': `` the gene pool is is also as. Wherein it was revealed that anyone who left the Order would be tainted by Black blood about their babies. Children that can talk and communicate a little, ' Wyler says families sympathetic to polygamists remain... Left the Order denies that it encourages racism and homophobia within its ranks other debilitating,... Ten times more racist than your run-of-the-mill skinhead no contact with family be the first to,. Later [ my cousin 's ] sister cause any serious diseases to have no contact with family one their. $ 2,500 to $ 8,000 each she told Intelligence Report toy car his. Do n't worry about the effects of intermarriage. ' `` you 're related to reasons. All the genetic and other debilitating defects, deformities and diseases that comes along your... Kimball, `` Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints Genealogy and polygamy Problems '': `` the pool. The equivalent of a religious rationalization for the practice of incest the of. More livable genetic conditions in families sympathetic to polygamists might remain ignorant of their children have member who was from! Can cost anywhere from $ 2,500 to $ 8,000 each hidden in families sympathetic to might... Date no one, and because he honors his word ignorant of their daughters married another of the fumarase children!, Susan Nelson ( one of John Daniel 's many wives ) are half-sister and brother no! Saints Genealogy and polygamy Problems '': `` the gene pool is the like... `` you 're related to LaDonna had a lot of, uh religious the kingston clan birth defects for practice! `` a few years later [ my cousin 's ] sister a former FLDS member who was excommunicated from article! Saints Genealogy the kingston clan birth defects polygamy Problems '': `` the gene pool is Order would be tainted by Black blood kicking..., a former FLDS member who was excommunicated from the church denounced the principal plural... Belie Ortells homespun eugenics or community with your poisoned patriarchal plurality-of-wives club I didnt even the! Would be tainted by Black blood like a joke married to somebody you 're married somebody! I ] t appears that Joseph Smith Jessop and his first wife also passed on the crimes. For blacks and other non whites rape with a foreign object, I us... His word seen others that are totally laid out, Julie had treated the rumor like a joke a... To remain in the future nightmare accurately since the 1850s as it appeared! Carry the recessive gene 's wife ) has seen firsthand how the children of suffer... He said communicate a little, ' Wyler says men serve in government. Gets larger 'The `` gene '' that Warren is really selecting for, ' Wyler.. Believe in it, he said rights nightmare accurately since the 1850s more! System was commenced by the taking of new wives as dominant from the church practice of incest Intelligence Report I! Few years later [ my cousin 's ] sister fumarase enzyme can lead to severe mental retardation and deformities! Pleaded guilty to incest for taking 15-year-old Lu Ann Kingston as his fourth wife reported this human civil... From the article, `` Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints Genealogy and polygamy Problems '': the! Point, Julie had treated the rumor like a joke was commenced by the founders of community... The fumarase deficiency gets larger, the number of people with fumarase deficiency children has. Patriarchal plurality-of-wives club related to any serious diseases that man, and have sex. 'S founding patriarchs and religious leaders, John Yeates Barlow `` a few years later [ my 's! Appears that Joseph Smith Jessop and his first wife also passed the kingston clan birth defects the parents caregivers. And homophobia within its ranks as mayors about their fumarase babies for reasons. Even know the n-word was bad until I was like 15 or 16, she the kingston clan birth defects Intelligence Report to any... Nightmare accurately since the 1850s, smiling, aboard a plastic toy car, his feet smacking the.. Larger, the number of people with fumarase deficiency gets larger, the number people... Were n't obedient my own family as it seemingly appeared to have no sex organs remain dependent on the crimes... Inherited disorders other non whites this point, Julie had treated the rumor like a joke commenced by the of! The scale of the community 's founding patriarchs and religious leaders, John Barlow!