POLYGAMY IN THE MORMON CHURCH DIED A HARD DEATH
After the Church abandoned the Practice of Polygamy there were those members who would not accept the Manifesto and continued practicing polygamy or plural marriage. When Joseph Smith introduced the principal a great deal of resistance and opposition was encountered from those to whom this revolutionary doctrine was taught. Most, if not all, who first entered the system did so reluctantly and after a great deal of soul-searching. Ironically, when the practice of polygamy was officially discontinued in 1890, many who had taken plural wives found for them the discontinuance was as bitter as the commencement had been for their forerunners. Polygamy died a hard death in the Church. It was several years before absolute civil or ecclesiastic enforcement could be seriously attempted. There were some who could never accept the change but continued living plural marriage in spite of the Church.
Available information indicates the beginning of the organized group now known as the Fundamentalists began in 1929. Lorin C Wooley alleges that on September 22, 1886 that he and five associates laid the foundation for this work by relating an account of meetings and activities alleged to have been conducted by President John Taylor. There was an alleged revelation given to Church President John Taylor indicating that one day a document similar to the manifesto would be given to the Church and would be followed by much apostasy and discord.
According to Wooley he and five other men were set apart and ordained to see that no year passed without children being born in plural marriage. They were also given authority to ordain others so that the work would never cease. By 1929, when Wooley first made public his claims, he was the only survivor of these six men. Not one of the other five remained to corroborate or refute his story. Among the believers Wooley ordained several to the same office he claimed for himself. These included Leslie Broadbent, John Y Barlow and Joseph Musser. After Wooley died he was succeeded by Broadbent the senior member of the High Priest Apostles, for which they called themselves. After Broadbent’s death he was succeeded by Barlow. At that time, Eldon Kingston claimed to be Broadbents successor. Kingston claimed to have received visions and revelations and declared himself as the successor to Broadbent. Kingston was not accepted by the Fundamentalists generally, and went into the mountains east of Bountiful with his followers to fast and pray for the restoration of the Priesthood. He claimed that the Priesthood had been lost by the Fundamentalists for not following him.
John Y Barlow died in 1945 and was succeeded by Joseph W Musser. Musser was in ill health, and as a result friction developed, especially when Musser ordained Rulon Allred, a natual[pathic doctor, as a High Priest Apostle. There had been some ill feelings between Allred and other members of the council, charging Allred with having taken advantage of Musser, as he cared for Musser during his illness. This friction increased as Musser called Allred as a counselor. As a result, the council eventually split, with Musser and Allred leading one group and most of the council and followers remaining in the original group. When Musser died, Allred took over leadership of one group and LeRoy Johnson became the leader of the larger group in Short Creek or Colorado City as it is now called The main difference between these two groups is the authority, The larger group or FLDS have stricter control. The boys allegiance is to their priesthood leaders and not their fathers and planned marriages are replacing courtship.
The FLDS are presently headquartered in Colorado City [Short Creek} and are led by Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence for marrying and giving in marriage young girls 12 to 16 years of age. The AUB or Apostolic United Brethren is headquartered in Bluffdale Utah just outside of Salt Lake City. Lynn A Thompson currently leads this group. Another group called The True and Living Church of Jesus Christ is headquartered in Manti Utah and is led by James Harmston. Harmston has since passed away.
These are the main polygamous groups in Utah. There are other groups that are smaller that do entertain polygamy. In the FLDS group, my biggest concern is child abuse in the forcing of marriage on young girls and robbing them of their youth and innocence. Also, many young boys are evicted from the colonies, so their fathers will not have competition for the young girls. The boys with little experience or knowledge of the outside world are forced to fend for themselves and thus are exposed to drugs and prostitution. In the next article, I will try and differentiate between the main groups. If you have any comments or opposing feelings I would like to hear from you.
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