Brother Ervil, Brother Ross, Brother Rulon…

Unconventional LDS Records For Mormon Fundamentalists

© Copyright 2009, Helen Radkey – All rights reserved.

More than a hundred years ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) officially outlawed its entrenched serpent—polygamy—as a practice. The LDS Church today claims to have nothing to do with those who practice plural marriage, and excommunicates any church member who embraces it. Polygamy was a significant part of the foundational theology of Mormonism. The LDS Church suspended plural marriage in this life because the practice runs contrary to the law of the land. Nowadays, to a great extent, mainstream Mormons have sanitized the polygamous legacy of Joseph Smith, and de-emphasize that part of Mormon history.

While the present-day LDS Church does not sanction polygamy, and insists the practice no longer plays a role in current Mormon teaching—it does not claim that its past endorsement of polygamy was wrong. Mormons believe they can embrace polygamy in the highest level of heaven in the hereafter. Behind closed temple doors, celestial plural marriage is given a tacit and broad-minded nod of approval. Although LDS Church leaders no longer allow the practice of polygamy here on Earth, they do permit a living man to be “sealed” to another woman after the death of his wife, or after divorce. In LDS temples, some deceased men are sealed by proxy to multiple wives. These lists include Mormon fundamentalists (and their plural wives) whom Mormons are posthumously reclaiming through “resurrected” original LDS ordinances, and temple rituals for the dead.

Various fundamentalism sects of Mormonism hold on to early Mormon teachings that made polygamy a central part of the Mormon faith. Many Mormon fundamentalists were originally members of the LDS Church and became LDS outcasts because they supported plural marriage. The majority of Mormon fundamentalists, who had been excommunicated from the LDS Church, considered themselves to be the truest of Mormons. They regarded the LDS Church as the only divinely recognized church in the world—but believed the Church was in a state of apostasy.

Well-known pariahs who were excommunicated by the LDS Church over the polygamy issue include: Rulon Clark Allred (1906-1977); John Yeates (Yates) Barlow (1874-1949); Joseph Leslie Broadbent (1891-1935); Rulon Timpson Jeffs (1909-2002); Joseph Smith Jessop (1869-1953); Joseph Lyman Jessop (1892-1963); Leroy Sunderland Johnson (1888-1986); Charles William Kingston (1884-1975); Alma Dayer LeBaron (1886-1951) and the LeBaron clan; Joseph White Musser (1872-1954); Gerald Wilbur Peterson, Sr. (1917-1981); John Wickersham Woolley (1831-1928); Lorin Calvin Woolley (1856-1934); and Charles Frederick Zitting (1894-1954).

When they were alive and kicking, these die-hard polygamists were ousted from LDS ranks because they refused to relinquish polygamy. In death, they have been reclaimed by the LDS Church, which has apparently decided to embrace, not only these dead Mormon fundamentalists, but, in some cases, their polygamous lifestyle, as well. The baptized names of the aforementioned former Mormons—many of whom have been posthumously “sealed” for eternity in LDS temples to multiple wives—are currently in the LDS Church’s online database of posthumous rites, the International Genealogical Index (IGI), at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp . The IGI database was designed to keep track of “temple work” undertaken on behalf of deceased persons. Temple “ordinances” are performed by living church members as proxies for the deceased. Family pedigrees listing original LDS ordinances, including baptisms, can be found for many of the Mormon fundamentalists in this report in the Ancestral File, a database of genealogies on CD-ROM to January 1998, accessible at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Baptism details are given in the Ancestral File for the following names: Rulon C. Allred; John Y. Barlow; Joseph L. Broadbent; Joseph S. Jessop; Joseph L. Jessop; Leroy S. Johnson; Charles W. Kingston; Alma D. LeBaron, and three of his polygamist sons: Joel F. LeBaron, Ervil M. LeBaron, and Verlan M. LeBaron; Gerald W. Peterson, (Sr.); John W. Woolley; and Lorin C. Woolley.

Currently, the regularly updated online IGI is the LDS Church’s primary database of posthumous ordinances, until a newer version of FamilySearch is fully released. Sifting through the untidy IGI content, and its (off-limits to the public) online ordinance data, reveals an astonishing array of listings for the Mormon fundamentalists. In many cases, like the Ancestral File, original dates of LDS rituals for many of these excommunicated polygamists are recorded on online IGI entries. IGI records that list original LDS baptisms for excommunicated Mormon fundamentalists make it appear as though these polygamists, who were considered apostates by the LDS Church, never saw the light of day away from mainstream Mormonism. At the time they were expelled from the LDS Church, their names would have been removed from Mormon membership rolls. Since their deaths—a few clicks of the keyboard have ostensibly put these polygamists back onto church membership lists. This strange form of record-keeping creates the impression that these men have been posthumously reinstated as Mormons. “Resurrected” original LDS baptism dates are shown on online IGI entries for the following excommunicated polygamists: Rulon C. Allred; John Y. Barlow; Joseph L. Broadbent; Joseph S. Jessop; Joseph L. Jessop; Leroy S. Johnson; Charles W. Kingston; Verlan M. LeBaron; John W. Woolley; Lorin C. Woolley; and Charles F. Zitting.

Rulon Clark Allred was born into a polygamous family in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Allred’s decision to take plural wives came in his twenties following what he described as a vision. That decision resulted in the estrangement of his first wife, Katherine Lucy Handy, whom he had been sealed to in the Salt Lake (LDS) Temple in 1926. Allred was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1940 for practicing polygamy. In 1941, his plural wives were also cut off from the Church. Allred was the leader of the Utah-based group of Mormon fundamentalists, known as the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB). A naturopath by profession, Allred was murdered in his office in Murray, Utah, on May 10, 1977, on the orders of Ervil LeBaron, the head of a rival polygamous group. At the time of his death, Allred was the husband of at least seven wives, the father of forty-eight children, and the spiritual leader of thousands of Mormon fundamentalists. Although the 1926 marriage sealing between Allred and Handy was annulled in 1942—Handy remarried in 1940—online IGI records still display the original 1926 sealing. Several of these records also list Mabel Finlayson, a plural wife of Allred, as an additional spouse. Two IGI records show Allred’s original 1914 LDS baptism. One of these entries lists his original 1926 endowment, as well as the 1926 sealing to Handy. Allred was posthumously baptized as recently as January 29, 2009 in the Ogden Utah Temple. He was previously baptized in 2001, 2002, and 2008. He was endowed and sealed to his parents in 2002 and 2008. Mormons gave plural marriage for Rulon Allred a recent thumbs up—when he was sealed by proxy to two of his wives, Ruth Rachel Barlow, and Ethel Jessop, on December 16, 2008 in the Ogden Utah Temple. He had been sealed to Barlow in 1992. It is worth noting that Ethel Jessop became a plural wife of Rulon Allred in 1945—five years after his excommunication from the LDS Church. When Allred was sealed to Jessop in December, 2008—the LDS temple system endorsed Allred’s post-excommunication polygamy. Rulon Allred is buried at Larkin Sunset Lawn Cemetery in Salt Lake City. Buried next to him, or near him, are his wives: Ruth Barlow Allred; Myrtle Lloyd Allred; Ethel Jessop Allred; Mabel Finlayson Allred; and Melba Finlayson Allred.

John Yeates (Yates) Barlow became a Mormon fundamentalist leader in Short Creek, Arizona. When he was a missionary for the LDS Church, John Barlow defended his polygamous views and was dishonorably released. He was excommunicated from the LDS Church circa 1923. Online IGI entries cite his original 1885 LDS baptism and original 1895 endowment, as well as his original 1897 marriage sealing to his first wife, Ida May Critchlow. Barlow married for the first time in 1897. He took his first plural wife in 1902, the second in 1918, and the third in 1923, making a total of four wives. IGI entries show Barlow has been sealed to all of his wives. He was sealed by proxy to Susannah Stevens Taggart; Ada Marriott; and Martha Jessop. John Barlow was posthumously baptized in 1969 and 2006. His 1895 endowment is listed again on two IGI entries for baptisms on May 26, 1969. Barlow received another endowment in 2007. When he was sealed to his fourth wife and second cousin, Martha Jessop, on January 15, 2008 in the Monticello Utah Temple, Mormons placed a recent stamp of approval on Barlow’s ex-LDS polygamous lifestyle.

Joseph Leslie Broadbent was a leader in the early stages of Mormon fundamentalism. In 1927, Broadbent published a pamphlet Celestial Marriage advocating the practice of plural marriage. This was a factor in his excommunication by the LDS Church in 1929. Joseph Broadbent is listed in the online IGI with his original 1899 LDS baptism and original 1910 endowment. He was posthumously baptized in 1990. Included on the 1990 baptism entry is another record of Broadbent’s 1910 endowment. IGI entries for Broadbent show his original 1915 marriage sealing to his first wife, Rula Louise Kelsch, and a 2005 sealing to her. Joseph Broadbent was also sealed by proxy to two other wives, Fawnita Jessop and Anna Kmetsch (Kmetzsch), on the same day, May 24, 1994 in the Boise Idaho Temple. On exactly the same date, and in exactly the same LDS temple where John Barlow was sealed by proxy to his fourth wife, Martha Jessop—Joseph Leslie Broadbent was sealed to his parents on January 15, 2008 in the Monticello Utah Temple.

Joseph Smith Jessop, a founder of the Short Creek (Mormon) fundamentalist colony in Arizona, was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1930 because of polygamy. At the time of his death in 1953, Jessop had 112 grandchildren and at least 145 great-grandchildren through his three wives. IGI records list Jessop’s original 1877 LDS baptism and original 1889 endowment, and his original 1889 marriage sealing to his first wife, Martha Moore Yeates. Several IGI entries show Jessop was posthumously baptized, endowed, and sealed to his parents in 1981. His 1889 endowment is cited on one of these listings. Jessop was baptized again in 2005 and 2006, and endowed in 2005 and 2007. He was sealed again to his first wife in 1985 and 2003, and sealed twice in two different LDS temples in Utah to a plural wife, Gertrude Annie Marriott, in August 2008—a very recent LDS endorsement of Jessop’s supposedly ex-LDS polygamous lifestyle.

Joseph Lyman Jessop was a son of Joseph Smith Jessop and Martha Moore Yeates Jessop. In 1924, Joseph Lyman Jessop’s convictions regarding plural marriage were cemented when he married Maleta Porter, a cousin to his wife, Winnie, as his first plural wife. Within the year, Jessop and his two wives at that time were excommunicated from the LDS Church. Online IGI records reveal the plural marriage that caused Jessop’s excommunication. Mormons sealed Jessop to his second wife, [Rachel] Maleta Porter, in 2000. Two separate entries show Jessops’s original 1917 marriage sealing to Winnie Porter. He was sealed to another plural wife, Beth Allred, in 1998 and 2000. In January and December, 2008, Jessop was sealed again to his first wife, Winnie Porter. Jessop’s original 1900 LDS baptism is recorded on two separate IGI entries. One of these records shows his original 1910 endowment. The 1910 endowment is shown again on another entry with a 1994 proxy baptism. Joseph Smith Jessop and Martha Moore Yeates are cited as Jessop’s parents on that record, which indicates Joseph Lyman Jessop was “BIC” (born in the covenant), indicating he is automatically sealed to his ex-LDS father and mother.

Leroy Sunderland Johnson was the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church), based in Colorado City, Arizona. Johnson, who died in 1986, aged 98, was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1935 for his support of plural marriage. Leroy Johnson’s original 1896 LDS baptism is listed on the same IGI record as his original 1914 endowment. Another entry lists his original 1914 marriage sealing to Josephine Ford. Leroy Johnson was baptized by proxy in 1995, and endowed and sealed to his parents in 1996.

Charles William Kingston was a prominent member of the Davis County Cooperative Society and the Latter Day Church of Christ, the communal and polygamous Mormon fundamentalist group in Utah that has come to be known as the Kingston clan. Kingston, who lived to be 91, was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1929 because of his involvement with plural marriage. His original 1892 LDS baptism is listed in the IGI on the same record as his original 1906 endowment. Kingston was posthumously baptized and endowed in 1995, baptized again in 1997, and endowed in 1998. His original 1906 marriage sealing to his first wife, Vesta Minerva Stowell, is listed four times in the online IGI, with different batch or film numbers. In a steady procession of repetitive proxy sealings, Kingston was sealed to Vesta Stowell in 1996, 1997, and 1998.

Verlan McDonald LeBaron, who was a son of the Mormon fundamentalist, Alma Dayer LeBaron, and wife, Maud LeBaron, was a member of the polygamous LeBaron clan. In 1944, most of the LeBarons were excommunicated from the LDS Church for teaching and practicing polygamy. (Alma Dayer LeBaron had been excommunicated from the LDS Church twenty years earlier.) In the late 1940s, the LeBaron clan established Colonia LeBaron, a polygamist colony in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Verlan LeBaron died in a car accident in Mexico in 1981. The original 1942 LDS baptism for this polygamist, and former Mormon, is listed in the online IGI on the same record as his original 1951 endowment. LeBaron was also proxy baptized by Mormons in 1995, and endowed in 1996. In March 2004, he was posthumously sealed to his parents, Alma Dayer LeBaron and Maud Lucinda McDonald (LeBaron)—both excommunicated Mormons—in an LDS temple in Mexico. Verlan LeBaron was baptized again on July 22, 2008 in the Salt Lake Temple, and sealed to a spouse, Helen Bertha Hinck, on the same date, in the same Utah temple.

John Wickersham Woolley was one of the founders of the Mormon fundamentalism movement. Woolley was uncle to LDS Church President, Spencer W. Kimball, and Mormon apostles, J. Reuben Clark and John W. Taylor. Woolley was a high-ranking Mormon, but he refused to obey the proclamation issued by the LDS Church in 1904, sometimes called the Second Manifesto, which prohibited LDS Church members from entering into new plural marriages. Woolley continued to perform plural marriage ceremonies and was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1914. There are more than 30 separate records currently in the online IGI for this prominent Mormon fundamentalist. These include listings that show an original 1841 LDS baptism, original 1851 endowment, and an 1895 sealing to parents. An 1857 baptism is also recorded on an entry with a 1967 endowment. Woolley, who lived to be almost 97, has been posthumously baptized and endowed numerous times. He was endowed as recently as June 2008. The IGI shows a plethora of marriage sealing entries for him. Among the marriage records are listings for original temple sealings (with conflicting dates) to four wives: Julia Searl(e)s (Sirls) Ensign; Ann Everington; Mary Jane Ensign; and Annie Fisher. Separate IGI records for Woolley cite marriage sealings to Ann Everington and Mary Jane Ensign, which ceremonies occurred on June 1, 1892 in the Logan Utah Temple. In April 2008, John W. Woolley was sealed to Annie Fisher in the Salt Lake Temple. In September 2008, he was sealed to Ann Everington in the same LDS temple.

Lorin Calvin Woolley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was a son of John Wickersham and Julia Woolley. Lorin Woolley was a high-profile Mormon fundamentalist leader and a strong advocate of plural marriage. He was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1924 for publicizing that some LDS Church leaders had taken plural wives after the 1890 Manifesto, which was issued by the LDS Church when it officially suspended polygamy. Woolley taught the 1890 Manifesto was uninspired. He claimed he had the proper priesthood authority, the legitimate sealing power, necessary for performing plural marriages. Woolley was married to at least four wives. His original 1868 LDS baptism is listed on an IGI entry with his original 1873 endowment. Another record shows his original 1883 sealing to his first wife, Sarah Ann Roberts. Lorin Woolley has been posthumously baptized, endowed, and sealed to his parents, numerous times. His most recent baptism was in 2006. He was sealed by proxy to his first wife in 1967.

Charles Frederick Zitting was a Mormon fundamentalist leader of the community in Short Creek, Arizona. He was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1928 because he married more than one wife. Zitting spent over two years in the Utah Penitentiary for polygamy. Several online IGI entries list Zitting’s original 1902 LDS baptism and original 1920 endowment. Two other entries (with different batch numbers) show posthumous baptisms for him in June 1971 and sealings to parents in April 1972. Zitting’s 1920 endowment is also listed on these two entries. Zitting has been posthumously sealed by Mormons to five wives: Minnie Affleck; Elvera Olson; Edna Aleen Christensen; Orpha Cope; and Bonnie Elaine Kilgrow. Edna Aleen Christensen (Zitting), and Elvera Olson (Zitting) are buried in separate graves on either side of him. Through an extraordinary twist of fate, Charles Zitting is buried in Elysian Burial Gardens, which is directly across the road from my home in Salt Lake City. Buried alongside of him are three of his six wives: Edna Aleen Christensen Zitting; Elvera Olson Zitting; and Laura Tree Zitting. It should be noted that in March 1998, in the Ogden Utah Temple, Charles Zitting was inappropriately sealed to his first wife, Minnie Affleck. That union had ended in divorce (circa 1926) because of Zitting’s belief in plural marriage.

Rulon Allred and Charles Zitting are not the only Mormon fundamentalists who are registered in the IGI with a marriage sealing to a divorced spouse. At least four others on my list—Rulon T. Jeffs; Alma D. LeBaron; Ervil M. LeBaron; and Joseph W. Musser—are listed in the online IGI with marriage sealings to one or more spouses they were either divorced or separated from.

Rulon Timpson Jeffs was the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, based in Colorado City, Arizona. Jeffs assumed the leadership of the FLDS Church after the death of Leroy Johnson in 1986. Rulon Jeff’s first wife, Zola (Brown) Jeffs, was divorced from him in April 1941 because he insisted on taking a plural wife. Two weeks later, Jeffs was excommunicated from the LDS Church. He was caught in one of the government roundups of polygamists in 1944 and was held briefly in the Salt Lake County Jail. When Jeffs died in 2002, aged 92, as the leader of what is thought to be America’s largest polygamous sect, he was believed to have 19-75 wives, and to have fathered more than 60 children. (Warren Steed Jeffs, a son of Rulon Jeffs, took over the leadership of the FLDS Church, after the death of his father. The FLDS Church has been a source of controversy over the years because of its polygamist beliefs and allegations of men marrying underage girls. Warren Jeffs achieved notoriety—and prison time—because of his involvement with underage marriage.) Many wives of FLDS patriarch, Rulon Jeffs, are probably alive today and would not be considered suitable candidates for posthumous marriage sealings. In an apparent act of Mormon madness, however, on April 25, 2007—Rulon Jeffs, the polygamist leader with many wives—was sealed by proxy to his now deceased first wife—Zola Grace Brown (Jeffs)—the spouse he was divorced from sixty-six years earlier because she refused to submit to his polygamous urges. The off-the-wall marriage sealing between Jeffs and Brown occurred in the St. George Utah Temple. In the same LDS temple in Utah, Jeffs was posthumously baptized and endowed in 2005, and sealed to his parents in 2006.

Alma Dayer LeBaron
, who usually went by his middle name, Dayer, was born in Arizona. Dayer LeBaron had a strong Mormon heritage. His grandfather, Benjamin F. Johnson, was a close friend of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of Mormonism. LeBaron became involved with Mormon fundamentalism. In 1904, he married his first wife, Cynthia Barbara Bailey, in Mexico. LeBaron’s religious beliefs alienated his first wife, who soon left him and moved to Salt Lake City. After moving to Utah, Dayer LeBaron married Maud Lucinda McDonald in 1910. Together they had thirteen children, eight boys and five girls. In 1923, Maud LeBaron helped her husband select another wife—and Dayer LeBaron married Onie Jones. LeBaron and his two wives were excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1924 because of his involvement with plural marriage. LeBaron moved his family to Mexico to escape anti-polygamy laws in the United States. Onie Jones had six children by LeBaron—and eventually separated herself and their children from him because of his fundamentalist activities. Although LeBaron’s marriages to his first wife, Cynthia Barbara Bailey, and plural wife, Onie Jones, did not last—he has been sealed by proxy in LDS temples to both women. LeBaron was sealed to Cynthia Barbara Bailey in the Provo Utah Temple in 1996—and sealed to her again in the Ciudad Juárez México Temple in 2004. He was sealed to Onie Jones in the St. George Utah Temple in 1999. LeBaron was sealed to Maud McDonald in March 2004 in the Ciudad Juárez México Temple. He was posthumously baptized in March 2004 in the same LDS temple in Mexico. In May 2005, Alma Dayer LeBaron was baptized again in the Anchorage Alaska Temple, and endowed in the same LDS temple in July 2005.

Ervil Morrell LeBaron, a son of Alma Dayer and Maud LeBaron, was the most notorious member of the LeBaron family. The LeBaronites came prominently into public attention with the criminal activities of Ervil LeBaron. In the 1970s, LeBaron engaged in a murderous feud with his brothers and other polygamists for control of fundamentalist sects. LeBaron established the Church of the Lamb of God, and orchestrated the deaths of numerous people, as he tried to seize power among Mormon fundmentalists. He attempted to unite fundamentalist polygamous sects under one umbrella. Anyone who resisted his plans met violence. Ervil LeBaron was ultimately convicted of ordering the murder of rival polygamous leader, Rulon Allred. LeBaron had ordered the murder of his brother, Joel, and, throughout the 1970’s, ordered as many as 30 others killed, including at least one of his own children. Ervil LeBaron died in prison in Utah in 1981. Even after his death, some of his followers continued to kill those he had put on a hit list. LeBaron had 13 wives and 54 children. He had been excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1944 because he openly defied LDS authority. Despite Ervil LeBaron’s blood-soaked history—the LDS Church has offered him posthumous redemption. This modern-day Cain, who murdered even his own kin, was baptized by proxy in March 2004 in the Ciudad Juárez México Temple—baptized again in May 2005 in the Anchorage Alaska Temple—and endowed in that same LDS temple in July 2005. As a senseless gesture, LeBaron was sealed by proxy to his first wife, Delfina Salido, in the Dallas Texas Temple in 2002. As described in Prophet of Blood: the Untold Story of Ervil LeBaron and the Lambs of God, by Ben Bradlee, Jr. & Dale Van Atta: “…Ervil divorced Delfina [Salido] and legally married Kris [Jensen] in 1966 in Arizona…” (p.95). In the summer of 1977, after the murder of Rulon Allred—fearing for her own life—and concerned about the welfare of some of her children—Delfina Salido LeBaron fled from Ervil LeBaron and the Lambs of God. She later had a nervous breakdown and was committed to a mental institution (p. 256-260; 266).

Joseph White Musser was a significant Mormon fundamentalist leader who was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Musser became the major defender of the polygamous tradition. He is known for his Mormon fundamentalist books, pamphlets, and magazines. In 1892, Musser married his first wife, Rose S. Borquist, in the Logan Utah Temple. In 1902, Musser married his second wife, Mary C. Hill. In 1907, he married his third wife, Ellis R. Shipp, Jnr. Musser was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1921 for attempting to take Marion Bringhurst as his fourth wife. He married his fourth wife, Lucy O. Kmetsch (Kmetzsch) in 1922. Around 1925, after years of separation, Rose (Borquist) Musser obtained a civil divorce from him. Musser’s open advocacy of polygamy led to his arrest by federal officers in 1944. Although Musser’s first three wives all eventually rejected his polygamist views—he has been sealed by proxy for eternity to these three women. In 2001, he was sealed to Rose Selma Borgquist [sic] in the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple, and to Mary Caroline Hill in the Bountiful Utah Temple. In 1997, Musser was sealed to his third wife, Ellis Shipp, in the Provo Utah Temple. Joseph Musser has been posthumously baptized five times—in 1990, 1997, 2000 (twice), and 2004—in different LDS temples. He was endowed in 1990, 1997, 2000, 2001, and 2004, and sealed to his parents in 1990.

Other examples of deceased Mormon fundamentalists—most of whom were excommunicated Mormons—who have been subjected to LDS temple ordinances by proxy are: Fredrick M. Jessop; Benjamin T. LeBaron; Joel F. LeBaron; Ross W. LeBaron; and Gerald W. Peterson, Snr.

Fredrick Meade Jessop was a son of Joseph Smith Jessop and Martha Yeates Jessop. Fredrick “Uncle Fred” Meade Jessop was the acting bishop of the FLDS Church for many years and was instrumental in community development and the founding of many businesses. Jessop served as first counselor to Leroy Johnson and as second counselor to Rulon Jeffs, before he died in 2005, aged 94, at a hospital in Colorado. He reportedly had many wives and more than 100 children, although the children may have been the results of his wives’ previous marriages. Jessop appears to have been posthumously baptized in 2003, and endowed in 2004, in the St. George Utah Temple. While the birth information on that IGI record for him is correct—incorrect death details are shown. A later entry for Jessop gives more accurate birth and death data. Jessop was baptized again on November 16, 2006, in the St. George Utah Temple, and endowed in the same temple on April 5, 2007. Strangely, Fredrick Meade Jessop was sealed to his ex-LDS parents, Joseph Smith Jessop and Martha Moore Yeates, in the St. George Utah Temple, on May 19, 2007.

Benjamin Teasdale LeBaron was the first-born son of Alma Dayer and Maud LeBaron. Benjamin LeBaron fought a long battle against hereditary insanity. He claimed to hear revelations from God through extraterrestrial voices. LeBaron, who was born in Arizona, and spent time in mental institutions in Utah, died in Arkansas in 1978. Benjamin LeBaron was posthumously baptized in March 2004 in the Ciudad Juárez México (LDS) Temple. He was baptized again in May 2005 in the Anchorage Alaska Temple, and endowed in that same LDS temple in July 2005.

Ross Wesley LeBaron was the second-born son of Alma Dayer and Maud LeBaron. In 1955, after a falling out with his brother, Joel—Ross LeBaron incorporated his own church, calling it the Church of the Firstborn. Ross LeBaron resided mainly in Utah and quietly promoted his church (which he later disincorporated). During the 1980s, LeBaron lived in a storage shed on 33rd South in Salt Lake City, where I was introduced to him—and one of his wives—by one of his followers. LeBaron believed in UFO’s and the Adam-God doctrine. He was convinced that “Father Adam” and Jesus travel in flying saucers. LeBaron was a frequent guest on local radio talk shows. He would expound his belief that Jesus Christ would one day return to earth in a spaceship. In the several discussions I had with LeBaron, he invited me to join his group—and showed me diagrams and toy models of spaceships. He also told me that his murderous brother, Ervil LeBaron, had been possessed by evil spirits. Polygamist Ross LeBaron, who died in Idaho in 1996, was posthumously baptized in March 2004 in the Ciudad Juárez México (LDS) Temple.

Joel Franklin LeBaron was a son of Alma Dayer and Maud LeBaron. Joel LeBaron was a leader of the Mormon fundamentalist movement in northern Mexico. In September 1955, Joel LeBaron visited Salt Lake City, Utah, with several of his brothers, including Ross LeBaron, and organized the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness [sic] of Times. Joel LeBaron reported that he was visited by nineteen former prophets, including: Abraham; Moses; Jesus Christ; and Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. (Joel LeBaron claimed his priesthood line of authority from his father, Alma Dayer LeBaron, who was ordained by his grandfather, Benjamin F. Johnson, who had supposedly received an ordination to the highest priesthood office from Joseph Smith, Jr.) In 1971, Ervil LeBaron separated himself from the Firstborn Church. He and his followers established the rival Church of the Lamb of God—the most violent of the polygamous offshoots of the LDS Church. In August 1972, Joel LeBaron was shot in the head and killed by a follower of his brother, Ervil LeBaron. Joel LeBaron was posthumously baptized twice in 1995—in the Logan Utah Temple, and the Manti Utah Temple. He was also endowed in both temples. Polygamist Joel LeBaron was sealed to his ex-LDS parents, Alma Dayer LeBaron and Maud Lucinda McDonald (LeBaron), on March 20, 2004 in the Ciudad Juárez México (LDS) Temple.

Gerald Wilbur Peterson, Sr. was a Mormon fundamentalist who was once a member of the LDS Church. In the 1970s, Peterson united with the Allred group. He believed he was the prophet to succeed Rulon Allred. After Allred was murdered in 1977, Peterson claimed that Allred appeared to him as a ghost to reconfirm Peterson’s right to the presiding keys of the priesthood. In 1978, at Provo, Utah, Peterson organized the “Righteous Branch” Church, which now has its headquarters in southern Utah. Gerald W. Peterson, Sr., who died in 1981, was posthumously baptized in 1990. His original 1937 LDS endowment is shown on his online IGI baptismal entry.

In January 1933, a definitive “Official Statement” from the Office of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City was drafted by second counselor, J. Reuben Clark, and published in the Church News section of the Deseret News. The “Official Statement” clarified the LDS doctrine of celestial marriage. The First Presidency made a careful distinction between celestial marriage and polygamous marriage saying: “Celestial marriage—that is, marriage for time and eternity—and polygamous or plural marriage are not synonymous terms. Monogamous marriages for time and eternity, solemnized in our temples in accordance with the word of the Lord and the laws of the Church, are celestial marriages.”

Although the LDS Church officially dismantled plural marriage in 1933—in contradiction to this stance—the LDS temple system is systematically validating the plural marriages of many deceased Mormon fundamentalists who were excommunicated from the LDS Church because of polygamy. As this report shows, some of these polygamists—Rulon Clark Allred; John Yeates (Yates) Barlow; Joseph Leslie Broadbent; Joseph Smith Jessop; Joseph Lyman Jessop; Alma Dayer LeBaron; Joseph White Musser; and Charles Frederick Zitting—have been posthumously sealed in LDS temples to plural wives they married—after the LDS Church suspended polygamy.

The LDS Church appears to be reinventing its polygamous history, as it ushers excommunicated Mormon fundamentalists back into the LDS fold through a post-mortem back door. Without directly addressing the polygamy issue that caused these plural marriage advocates to be expelled from the LDS Church while they were alive, Church-sanctioned temple rituals would make more than just a few maverick polygamists—and their polygamy—now wholly acceptable by LDS Church standards. Mormons may insist that the efficacy of their temple rituals depends upon the willingness to accept, and the worthiness to receive, and these “rules” apply to all recipients of LDS rites. Nevertheless, in LDS temples worldwide, the modern-day Mormon mindset is bending over backwards to unambiguously sustain its bedrock belief in plural marriage beyond the grave.

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Some IGI entries referred to in this report may be no longer visible in the online IGI to be found at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp . This can be attributed to the LDS Church’s removal of data.

© Copyright 2009, Helen Radkey – All rights reserved.