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. Death: January 25, 1867 (75-76) Immediate Family: Husband of Lydia Kingston. Comparable graduation rates have been attained by our bachelors and advanced degree students when compared to the state of Utah and the U.S., despite an uphill battle of active discrimination against our students. When they arrived in Grand Junction, all three couples filled out the papers for a marriage license. Ed Sheeran Announces Final Mathematical-Themed Album 'Subtract' Very little is publicly known about her or their marriage but Paul shared a heartfelt Facebook about . Like Stephen, the boys were considered troublemakers by the Order and like Stephen, they knew a lot about how the clan handled its money. He trained the women how to rip off the government, a scheme the Order called Bleeding the Beast. Four of those appear to be couples from polygamous groups. 03/01/2023 9:00 a.m. Police divers cut a path through the ice to reach the victims. 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. But within the Order, where drinking soda pop was against the rules, it was a pretty big deal.. Dating or romance among young people before marriage is forbidden in the Kingston Group, but the sect does hold dances. Not desiring to be a plural wife doesnt necessarily mean she hoped to leave the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group. My e-mail address; george@eaglefreeenterprises ,com . Come back, his dad will say. Situated at the base of a rugged mountain range, the Orders spread sat in a pristine valley of glistening hayfields and open pasture. Every now and then, as hes driving around the ranch, his phone will ring. (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.) So far, however, despite Shurtleffs efforts, the insular and highly secretive nature of the Order has prevented him from finding sufficient evidence to bring a case strong enough to dismantle the clan. Noticing Stephen, he put the barbells down and came over to the boy. By 18, she was pregnant with her first child and ended up having four children in four years. Earlier in its history, the Kingston Group had plural wives under age 18. The lawsuit says Mafi received an aid package that exceeded her tuition. The Knight brothers were driving new trucks, and so were their friends, says Levi Kingston. 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 . I dont think theyre organized crime in that regard, but the racketeering statute defines it as any conspiracy or pattern of illegal activity done in concert with others. 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. The woman who married in 2014 at age 16 and asked not to be identified is still with her husband. He seemed like the most amazing guy, Stephen recalls. Within the clan, the pieces started to add up. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. They were married in Drimoleague parish church 02 February 1834. At 17, she agreed to marry a man in his early 20s. Alex's wife and son, Maggie and Paul, were shot to death at their home in 2021, and Alex is currently on trial for their murders.. We strongly encourage all members to strictly adhere to every legal guideline when operating their businesses including day cares and when applying for all need-based assistance, including financial aid for students. Nor are youths from polygamous sects the only teens who marry in Utah. The incident took place in Sullivan County around 8:15 p.m., Monday, Feb. 27 in the hamlet of Loch Sheldrake. I felt for his pulse, but he was already gone., That night, Paul Kingston arrived at the ranch. Instead, she volunteered for extra shifts at the Kingston Group-run coal mine near Huntington, where she worked as a dispatcher. To cope with the disorientation and loneliness of leaving one world for another, many turn to drugs. Hansen, 50, in a recent interview, said she told her daughter that wanting to leave home was the wrong reason to get married. Mafi followed Paul Kingstons instructions, the lawsuit states, and never again saw those funds.. The clan believed he had their treasure, and they were sending someone to kill him. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax The family believed that discipline would rein in the boys and that hard labor would make the girls more supplicant to their husbands back in the city. The group sought to maintain Pure Kingston Blood by arranging marriages between cousins and other close relatives, and shunning relationships that werent between white people, the lawsuit alleges. Luke Brown now insists that he and his brother simply borrowed the silver, and planned to return it to their aunt later. Paul lived in 1935, at address, Washington. That includes the fraud within Washakie Renewable Energy as well as what the plaintiffs allege was a separate scheme by sect members to bilk a U.S. Department of Agriculture program to provide free lunches to child and adult day cares. Among those Kingston Group brides who marry as minors and for whom The Tribune was able to find birthdates, the average age was 16 years, 7 months and 12 days. . Thanks for your understanding. He bragged that he had worn the same black shirt every day for a year. 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. The suit was filed against the groups leader Paul Eldon Kingston and 21 other members. And it would be several years after that before he stole from his father for the first time. The two boys pulled into the driveway and shifted the green Honda into park. I love the Order. I am in love with old cars and horses. Over 75 years, the Kingstons have amassed a fortune worth an estimated $300 million, but the operation skirts the edges of the law. Mafi recalls Paul Kingston telling the children who attended that meeting that The Order was going to be trying out something new, the lawsuit says. If they kill me, they kill me, he says. A recent estimate is that he has 34 wives and more than 500 children, as several of his wives have had as many as 16 children each! Paul, a grandson of the group's founder, has 27 wives and more than 300 children, Mary said. The teenagers sitting in the driveway on South Bonner Circle that afternoon in 2009 knew the operation well. To hide the scope of his organization, J.O. His most bizarre beliefs, though, concerned the occult. When Paul turned 21, he married Richaun Dye. Create Biography ", "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? He is not ready to forgive his father. 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. Paul Kingston, the top man within the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group or The Order, is accused of overseeing what the lawsuit calls a scheme. Sometimes his father read the Book of Mormon from the pulpit and talked about things regular Christians would recognize, like tithing or repentance. She was instructed, the complaint adds, to deposit the excess funds at a South Salt Lake office building, where the sects bank is located. Still stunned at the sudden loss of their brother, Stephen and his siblings were numb with grief. 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. This is nothing more than a continued attempt in a long history to keep DCCS members from accessing education and services every other U.S. citizen is legally entitled to. But he hopes that one day his family will be able to forgive him for leaving them behind. 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. To deaden his feelings of isolation, he started smoking a lot of pot and sitting around the house all day listening to country music. He became obsessed with homeopathic treatments and herbal remedies, teaching followers that through proper diet they could live to the age of a tree. When lightning struck a tree at the Home Place, he taught his followers that the tree had divine powers and was a gateway to heaven. In the kitchen, he opened a closet and popped a hatch in the floor that led down to a dark, musty basement. Most of the time, said Shanell DeRieux, a former Kingston Group member now seen on Escaping Polygamy, the girls only choice is to have babies because thats how we build The Order by population.. The son of the clans prophet, Knight, then 18, had once seemed destined for a leadership role within the Order. He was born Jan. 7, 1928, in San Diego, Calif., a son of the late Paul and Evelyn . Instead, he had walked away from the family three years earlier to make a life of his own. The plans fizzled because her mother didnt believe DeRieux had received direction from God to marry the man. She said her father didnt think the suitor was a good student. Kent Johnson, a spokesman for the Davis County Cooperative Society (DCCS), which also is named as a defendant, said members are strongly encouraged to strictly adhere to every legal guideline when applying for financial aid. Paul Elden Kingston is an accountant and attorney who has served as the Trustee-in-Trust of the Davis County Cooperative Society (DCCS), a Mormon fundamentalist denomination,[2] since 1987. 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. He would talk to them about marriage and thinking of whom to marry, Hansen said. For Stephen and the other kids on the ranch, the highlight of each week came on Sundays, when they traveled the hour and a half south to Salt Lake for church. We figured it was ours anyway, says Stephen, explaining that the clan hadnt paid the boys for bagging coal. The couple have since divorced. It didnt take long for them to break down and confess that they had robbed their aunt. The plaintiffs estimate the eight combine to have 106 wives. J.O. 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