Ed Sheeran Announces Final Mathematical-Themed Album 'Subtract' He asked him if he was being obedient, then excused himself to talk to Stephens mother. They did it, says Christian Kingston. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jessica Kingston claims she was groomed into choosing marriage at age 16 by her parents and the polygamous sect. When Elden died in 1948, leadership of the Order fell to Stephens grandfather, J.O., a short, miserly man with bony shoulders and thinning hair. The ones they dont think they have to worry about, they dont push them as hard.. The third plaintiff is Michelle Michaels, who the complaint says left the sect in 2017 rather than become a spiritual wife to a cousin who has nine wives. He directed some of his own children the plaintiffs estimate he has 27 wives and more than 300 offspring to seek more financial aid than they would have otherwise been entitled to, the suit cites one of his daughters as saying, and when the assistance exceeded what the student needed to attend college, the sect kept the proceeds. A husband and wife died while on a fishing trip after falling through thin ice in the region. But lots of people in the sect are already descended from that family, Hansen said; thats why there are so many cousin marriages in the Kingston Group. The deputy opened the trunk of the Honda, where he found two duffel bags stuffed with silver. What he told me was, Hansen said, Get her married so we dont have to take care of her anymore.. The Kingstons operate in a self-contained universe, completely cut off from the outside world. Did the Utah Legislature do enough to save the Great Salt Lake? I am in love with old cars and horses. Inseparable: Twins Peter (left) and Paul have lived. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. If you knew where to look and the Knight boys did it was easy to find. In his teens, Stephen and five of his half brothers stole $4,000 from their father. Depending on ones view, members of the Kingston Group either take care to follow marriage laws, or work to circumvent them. Instead, she volunteered for extra shifts at the Kingston Group-run coal mine near Huntington, where she worked as a dispatcher. ", "United by fundamentalist Mormon beliefs, one polygamous group helps another by bringing truckloads of food", "Young Brides Stir New Outcry on Utah Polygamy", "Shurtleff: Child bride polygamous marriages appear to have stopped", "Polygamists are urged to make public statement", "No longer performing child-bride marriages? Former sect members testified in favor of the measure, but its unclear whether the pressures faced by teens in the Kingston Group constitute forced marriage. Andrea Johnson was buried on June 13, 1992, at the Bountiful Memorial Park. Members who have left in recent years say that changed after some of Paul Kingston's brothers were convicted of. That wasnt the only reason Jessica liked him. Older teenagers were crammed five and six to a room, sleeping on the floors of trailers. She then met with two women who helped her complete financial aid forms. DeRieux says she was still high school age when her father told her she needed to pray about whom to marry, get married and build The Order. Her father also started calling her mother and prodded her to pressure DeRieux to get married. The clan is lead today by Charles E. Kingston's son, Paul E. Kingston, who is said to have more than 30 wives. While all that is happening, the potential bride is supposed to have been praying about whom to marry. Three others, including Grant, said they had to flee to escape such a fate. But 16- and 17-year-olds in Utah need only the consent of a parent to wed. Idaho, Colorado and Nevada, where the The Tribune also found Kingston Group marriages, have similar age and parental-consent requirements. According to former members of the Order, decades of inbreeding have resulted in rampant birth defects throughout the family. Colbert Reimagines Disney Park as 'De-Wokeified' DeSantis World, Sex, Drugs, and the Biggest Cybercrime of All Time, I could boil down what theyre about in three words, says a member who broke with the Order. Paul E. Kingston, considered the top man, signed as a witness for four of the marriages that The Tribune found outside Utah. After the wedding, Richaun chose the name Knight randomly a practice designed to prevent prosecutors from proving that men in the Order have multiple wives. Come and get me, Stephen said. The lawsuit includes a copy of whats alleged to be an agreement children had to sign before going to college. At first, the two boys denied any involvement in the break-in at Youngs house. . Paul was upset any of this had been reported at all, says a former member close to the boys. Within the clan, the pieces started to add up. At clan gatherings, girls who were still in their teens danced with men old enough to be their uncles, whom they were sometimes forced to marry. Still stunned at the sudden loss of their brother, Stephen and his siblings were numb with grief. The issue is available now on newsstands and in the digital archive. I honestly didnt even know there was any gold until they accused me of taking it, he says. Managed by: No one has been criminally charged. Paul J. Kingston Sr., 93, of North Huntingdon, died Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021. While some despised Ben for his apostasy and refused to speak with him, Stephen had remained in touch with his brother. Like other teenagers who leave fundamentalist Mormon communities, Stephen was not prepared to enter the world at large. Her top choice the one whom she felt God told her to marry was a man five years older than she and to whom she was related on both sides of her family tree. Colorado does not require an officiant or a ceremony to marry. He told her he believed one did not need to practice polygamy to reach heaven. Many consider Kingston the top man in the group. 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. (Photo courtesy Shanell DeRieux) Shanell DeRieux, then called Shanell Snow, center, stands with her mother, Shirley Hansen, right, and her father, John Daniel Kingston, in this photo from her legal wedding day, July 3, 2008, in Grand Junction, Colo. Also pictured are DeRiux's now-ex-husband and ex-mother-in-law. The plaintiffs estimate the eight combine to have 106 wives and 911 children. It was a total spur of the moment thing, Brown says. But Jessicas No. Hansen, 50, in a recent interview, said she told her daughter that wanting to leave home was the wrong reason to get married. The suit was filed against the groups leader Paul Eldon Kingston and 21 other members. A copy of the lawsuit also is available there, though no other filings in the case are. Then one night, a clan member called and told him that the Order planned to kill him. She also felt a religious call to wed and saw herself as mature enough to undertake such a commitment. DeRieux was photographed in Layton, Wednesday, July 11, 2018. Others say they buried it out in the desert and are slowly cashing it out. Many of these men are also given stewardship of the Orders business holdings sent out to run the clans coal mine or ranches, or to oversee one of its many storefronts. Then, moving quickly, the boy at the door let himself in and got to work. The woman who married in 2014 at age 16 and asked not to be identified is still with her husband. Paul F Kingston. One day, not long after the gold disappeared, Knight got an anonymous phone call. Five of the women suing alleged they were coerced into marriage as minors and raped by their husbands. He said the college has controls to ensure compliance with federal aid guidelines. The son of the clans prophet, Knight, then 18, had once seemed destined for a leadership role within the Order. The pressure became so intense DeRieux stopped going to dances. Knight was born in Salt Lake City, the sixth child of third-generation polygamists. Very little is publicly known about her or their marriage but Paul shared a heartfelt Facebook about . Jessica is hardly the only girl to make such a choice. Wed sleep on the chicken coop in the summer and shoot raccoons. Thanks for your understanding. Over the years, the Order has armed itself to ward off rivals, and once stalked and intimidated a judge who was meddling in the clans affairs. My 4-year-old comes to me and says she has to find out her No. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. She's since left the marriage and wants the legal marriage age raised to 18. During the approval process, the young man had begun texting Jessica something forbidden but that she says is common among Order teens who have an interest in one another. And it would be several years after that before he stole from his father for the first time. Girls who agree to become plural wives tend to be more devout and usually live in homes without their husband, thus receiving less scrutiny. John Daniel Kingston, who according to court testimony once had 14 wives, was on hand in 2011, when his sons held an open house at the Washakie production plant in Plymouth near Interstate 15 and . Paul Kingston succeeded his father John Ortell Kingston as the leader of the Kingston Clan on his father's death in 1987. Youre just supposed to get married as young as you can, said the now-26-year-old. Everyone knows it., After the gold disappeared, the Knight brothers suddenly seemed to have a lot of money especially for young men on their own in the world for the first time. 1:03. 180+ Jonathan Jacob Meijer View Site Google Maps He was angry and confused, says a former member of the cult. When he had finished, he walked toward Stephen, who was sitting on the tractor. Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune We really know what your game is.. They had eight children whose baptisms are recorded in the same church. If I had done it, the Order probably would have killed me. had some 80 children by 13 wives, but his favorite was Paul, an excellent student who made friends easily. Hansen said during family home evenings nights when a mans family gathers for religious studies and games her husband would take girls 12 and older who were single and lead them in a teaching. LDS Church wants to light up a temple in a place that prides itself on dark skies, For husband-and-wife team, this new restaurant is the culmination of a decadeslong dream, offered such statistics to counter the stereotype, Nicole Mafi, one of Paul Kingstons daughters. A statement from the only higher education institution mentioned in the lawsuit, Salt Lake Community College, said it has not received any subpoenas or inquiries. Paul passed away on month day 1973, at age 92 at death place, Oregon. J.O. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time Over the next several years, Stephen bounced from the suburbs of Salt Lake to the clans ranch in Nevada. The Kingston Group is believed to have a few thousand members, mostly in Utah and Idaho. Another group of kids called the Lost Boys, who were kicked out of the polygamist cult the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, ended up on the streets of Las Vegas and Phoenix, some turning tricks for drugs like meth and heroin. So when her husband pushed for that daughter to marry, too, Hansen thought she was mature enough. Their neighbors had no idea that the family were prominent members of the Kingston clan, the most powerful polygamist cult in America and one of the most dangerous. Genealogy profile for Paul Kingston Paul Kingston (1824 - 1894) - Genealogy Genealogy for Paul Kingston (1824 - 1894) family tree on Geni, with over 240 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. By 18 she was pregnant with her first child and ended up having four children in four years. While the Kingston Group, founded in 1935, is not affilated with the FLDS, members practice a fundamentalist version of Mormonism that involves polygamy. Then their father said something they never expected. ), Related Boys as young as 14 labored in the workshop. The Order was founded by Elden Kingston, Stephens grand-uncle, at the height of the Great Depression. A state court website says the judge must conclude that the marriage is voluntary and in the best interests of the minor.. She said her father didnt think the suitor was a good student. The group also teaches its members that only those with so-called pure blood will survive the apocalypse, according to the lawsuit. (Like most kids in the clan, Stephen wasnt told who his father was until he was old enough to be trusted to lie to protect the Order.) Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Stephen moved in with his brother. Marriage preparation can accelerate at puberty. 210 King Sobhuza II: King of Swaziland (now Eswatini), lived 1899-1982, is thought to have had 70 wives. His life was in danger, the voice on the other end warned. LDS Church wants to light up a temple in a place that prides itself on dark skies, For husband-and-wife team, this new restaurant is the culmination of a decadeslong dream, plural marriages that happen outside the law, two stars of the television show Escaping Polygamy,", Shanell DeRieux, a former Kingston Group member, stigmas that often come with being associated, Kent Johnson, a spokesman for the Davis County Cooperative Society. Paul lived in 1935, at address, Washington. He even had charts showing who were the higher families in the sect so his daughters knew where to look for a mate. She was 68. As time passed, his dogma became even stranger. Later that afternoon, in another house across town belonging to the Order, a woman named Patty Kingston opened her closet to discover that a chest of gold coins worth as much as $5 million had vanished. I dont really have too many friends, but the ones I do, I wouldnt trade for anything., Among Stephens friends were two of his cousins, Luke and Scott Brown. 1 choice was not her fathers. Former members estimate Paul has 30 wives and more than 50 children. Everyone in the Order knew that she controlled the purse strings for the operation but few were aware that she was sitting on a hidden stash of silver. The accusers also claim that the group arranged child marriages so that girls would become pregnant and beholden to their husbands and the religious sect. Paul Elden Kingston: Paul Kingston is the leader of the Latter Day Church of Christ, also known as the Kingston Clan or The Order in Utah. According to All Famous Birthdays, Paul Vallas has a staggering net worth of $5 million. I strongly believe they are an organized-crime family, Shurtleff says. Jessica Kingston said she has heard males talking to one another about a girl and say, If youre going to marry that girl, shes going to have to be a first wife because she wont live polygamy.. Regardless, all those applying should do so legally.. Mrs. She is the fifth of her mothers 12 children. Jessica said, strictly speaking, she and the other teen brides she knows chose to get married, but added: Its not much of a choice when theyre groomed to do that.. Whether she gives her blessing, she said, will depend on the answers to those questions. The education figures he cited would be a few percentage points higher than the average for Utah as a whole, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. took great pains to never show his wealth and taught his followers to do the same. It was Mothers Day in 2000, and Stephen and two of his brothers were speeding up a dirt road for dinner at an aunts house. If that child comes to her at age 16 wanting to marry, she said, she will have questions. 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