The suit says sect members might have obtained tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars through false applications. Like other fundamentalists of that era, he believed the Mormon Church had lost its divine authority when it renounced polygamy in 1890, so he persuaded three other families to join him in establishing their own sect. They sat there for a moment, warming their hands against the sputtering heater. The groom wore a suit. He would talk to them about marriage and thinking of whom to marry, Hansen said. Their legal team includes a Boston law firm with expertise in qui tam lawsuits. Some children are born blind, others with missing fingernails or undersize heads. John Gustafson, a representative of the Davis County Cooperative Society, an affiliate of the Kingston Group, disputed the lawsuits claims. Members are primarily born into the. Known variously as "Brother Paul," "the leader," and "the man on the watchtower" by Order members, this unremarkable, balding middle-aged man reportedly has 27 wives and over 300 children. Stephen didnt know what the law said he only knew that the people he loved were being abused and exploited by his own father. While all that is happening, the potential bride is supposed to have been praying about whom to marry. She says marriages can be used in The Order to gain or maintain favor among the parents of the brides and grooms. Like Stephen, the boys were considered troublemakers by the Order and like Stephen, they knew a lot about how the clan handled its money. Snow contends her mother was one of the people who told her she needed to think about whom she was going to wed. Photo by Nate Carlisle, The Salt Lake Tribune | Shirley Hansen, seen here July 21, 2018, stands along 2100 South near State Street in Salt Lake City. 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. 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. Then one of them exhaled slowly, his breath shuddering in the cold air. Were fucked, they told their cousin. Its who I am., To keep the police from prying into the matter any further, the clan also hired a private investigator to track down the missing gold. Its his father, the prophet, calling to coax his wayward son back into the fold. They also knew that much of the clans wealth was stashed inside the unassuming suburban house on the corner. ", "Girls in polygamous Kingston Group continue to marry as young as 15, records show, sometimes leaving Utah to marry cousins", "Inside 'The Order,' One Mormon Cult's Secret Empire", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Elden_Kingston&oldid=1136713473, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 19:29. If someone is mature enough, they should be able to do whatever they want.. I felt for his pulse, but he was already gone., That night, Paul Kingston arrived at the ranch. For now, Utah law says a 15-year-old may marry with the consent of a parent or guardian and the permission of a juvenile court judge. Women, meanwhile, allegedly gain status by being pure of blood and obedient, becoming the first wives of higher-ranking numbered men, and bearing many children. 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. It was February in Salt Lake, cold and gray, and in the foothills above the city, a low fog hung over the mountains. The son of the clans prophet, Knight, then 18, had once seemed destined for a leadership role within the Order. A lawsuit alleges leaders of a Utah polygamous sect bilked federal student aid programs by instructing teenagers to omit their fathers and other sources of income when applying for benefits. [5][6][7][8] Members generally seek the blessing of parents and religious leaders before choosing to marry. 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. The plaintiffs filed what is called a qui tam lawsuit in which whistleblowers assist in pursuing individuals who commit fraud against the government. While some despised Ben for his apostasy and refused to speak with him, Stephen had remained in touch with his brother. Paul E. Kingston, considered the top man, signed as a witness for four of the marriages that The Tribune found outside Utah. If the father believes his son received true direction from God, the son is sent to Paul Kingston or one of the people he designates to consider marriages. Hansen said some men try to use their children to improve their status in the sect. Three of his wives are his half-sisters. In the meantime, the police were closing in on the missing silver. To cope with the disorientation and loneliness of leaving one world for another, many turn to drugs. Their grooms averaged 20 years and 18 days. Had Snow been a better behaved, more devout member of the Kingston Group, Hansen said, there may not have been a push to have her legally marry at 16. He was angry and confused, says a former member of the cult. Her own father David Kingston has 18 wives and around 200 kids. Marriage preparation can accelerate at puberty. Later the Order reportedly bought slot machines from mob-controlled companies. The plans fizzled because her mother didnt believe DeRieux had received direction from God to marry the man. Earlier in its history, the Kingston Group had plural wives under age 18. Much of what we have reviewed appears frivolous and unfounded, Gustafson said in an emailed statement. (Jessicas dad and the young man had taken courses together at the University of Utah.) They were married in Drimoleague parish church 02 February 1834. ", "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? The clan believed he had their treasure, and they were sending someone to kill him. That Stephens father sat atop a mafialike organization was a secret kept from him for most of his childhood. Dating or romance among young people before marriage is forbidden in the Kingston Group, but the sect does hold dances. He went days at a time without eating, convinced it helped provoke visions, and believed that by the laying on of hands he could heal his followers from sickness and disease. Murdaugh is accused of fatally shooting his son, Paul, 22, with a shotgun and his wife, Maggie, 52, with a rifle near the dog kennels at the family's hunting estate known as Moselle. The plaintiffs estimate the eight combine to have 106 wives. He and Carl are members of the Utah State Bar, despite signing state oaths agreeing to uphold the Utah Constitution, which specifically outlaws polygamy. Father of Avisa Kingston; Susannah Mary Allison; Samuel Kingston and Paul Kingston. It passed a bill adding forced marriage into the states definition of sexual abuse. They were the type of kids you didnt mess with, says Robert Owen, a former member of the clan. 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. COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Jurors in Alex Murdaugh's murder trial will get to see for themselves the rural hunting estate where his wife and son were killed, following in the footsteps of . 1 choice for marriage is. All I like to do is work on cars and hang out with friends and ride my ponies, he wrote one night on his MySpace page. The ones that misbehave, they try to push them to marry as soon as they can, Hansen said. At a minimum, the statement said, two employees review every student file flagged for verification to ensure quality assurance in our processes.. As time passed, his dogma became even stranger. Create Biography Stoddard was the president of the Latter Day Church of Christ, the Kingston Groups incorporated religious organization. At 15, Snow ran away from home, wound up in a foster home and later was returned to her mother. He served one day in jail. The incident took place in Sullivan County around 8:15 p.m., Monday, Feb. 27 in the hamlet of Loch Sheldrake. He mandated that children should drink tea brewed from the herb every morning, and that Order members should feed it to their cows. She called her sister-in-law Patty Kingston, who lived across town. A copy of the lawsuit also is available there, though no other filings in the case are. We really know what your game is.. All rights reserved. Many consider Kingston the top man in the group. Paul Kingston is one of eight men named as defendants in the lawsuit. Some former sect members, including two stars of the television show Escaping Polygamy," say girls are pressured to marry at the age most kids are learning to drive and reading Wuthering Heights.. One crime had been solved but the chest of gold stolen from Patty Kingstons closet remained a mystery. 12 Paul J. WILFONG was born on 4-13-1912 in Marlinton. [9], He is believed to have practiced polygamy in the past, potentially accruing as many as 40 wives and fathering up to 300 Children. It didnt take long for them to break down and confess that they had robbed their aunt. By the time the teenagers sped away, they had made off with more than $80,000 in silver. The suit was filed against the groups leader Paul Eldon Kingston and 21 other members. One is a first cousin. Its unclear how much if any investigating has happened in the almost seven months since the lawsuit was filed. Lawful marriage and the way it binds people together legally and financially, Hansen said, is seen as a way to keep the more rebellious girls in the Kingston Group. Kingston taught his followers that they are the literal descendants of Jesus and one of his wives, who had come down to Earth to found a race of chosen people. Paul Elden Kingston has been the leader of the Mormon fundamentalist Latter Day Church of Christ and the Davis County Cooperative Society in the United States of America since 1987. When Stephen was a boy, the clan would gather for the New Year in a warehouse in the city for its annual ritual: the numbering of the men. Nor are youths from polygamous sects the only teens who marry in Utah. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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They did it, says Christian Kingston. Prior to 2017, Kingston was Professor of Sociology, and by courtesy, Professor in the Curry School of Education. Their father rarely came by, and because the nearest town was 18 miles away, the kids forged a fierce bond among themselves. The two most recent of those marriages, according to wedding certificates, occurred in April. Paul J. Kingston Sr., 93, of North Huntingdon, died Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021. Mafis mother is Paul Kingstons fifth wife, yet when filling out the aid forms, the woman advising her told Mafi not to submit anything about her father, according to the lawsuit. Mark Shurtleff, the Utah attorney general, has spent years investigating the clan, gathering birth certificates and genealogical data, and has come to believe that the cult is guilty of a long list of crimes, including child labor, tax evasion, welfare fraud, polygamy and the sanctioning of underage marriages to blood relatives. 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