Posted on 02/03/2010 8:22:43 AM PST by Colofornian
Gathering Joe Jessop’s brood together for a group photo is a challenge for even the most patient of snappers.
After all, there are five wives, 46 children and – at the last count – 239 grandkids to squeeze into the frame.
That’s because the 88-year-old is the bed-hopping patriarch of one of the world’s most extraordinary families.
Joe and his clan live in Short Creek, Utah, a 6,000-strong community of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous offshoot of the Mormon Church. Joe says: “My family came to Short Creek for the same reason as everyone else.
“To obey the law of plural marriage, to build up the Kingdom of God. Despite everything that’s been thrown our way, I’d say we’ve done a pretty good job.”
Each wife has her own bedroom and takes responsibility for her own children.
But, dressed in their distinctive pioneer-style dresses, they share the domestic chores equally. One will take control of the kitchen, another will take on the role of schoolmistress (most FLDS children are home-taught), while someone else will be in charge of sewing.
Family mealtimes begin with a prayer with up to 12 adults and adolescents sitting at the main table and the toddlers to teens taking their place around two tables in the next room. TV and junk food are banned but the community does have internet access and younger members regularly check emails and listen to religious music on their iPods.
And while their distinctive outfits may seem more in keeping with a horse and cart, most men drive SUVs and mobiles are as common here as in the rest of the US.
Joe adds: “I’ve had a blessed life. I wouldn’t trade places with anyone.”
However, the religion and associated lifestyle has come under fire in America by critics who see the FLDS as little more than a cult which brainwashes its women and deprives its children of a normal childhood.
Former president Warren Jeffs, who claimed to be God’s mouthpiece on earth, is serving a 10-year jail sentence over a rape. There are 11 other church members awaiting trial in Texas.
In April 2008 the group made international news when, acting on what turned out to be a hoax call alleging systematic child abuse on the church’s Texan compound, welfare officers took custody of all 439 children under the age of 18.
America was gripped by the TV footage of the raid but just over a month later, the Supreme Court ruled it had not been justified and ordered the children to be returned to their parents.
However, the cloud of suspicion remains.
Several people have left the church to campaign against it and families have been torn apart as a result.
There are around 40,000 people living in a polygamist family in Utah – about 2% of the population.
Only the first marriage is legal and licensed, the others are carried out secretly in private ceremonies. The Mormon church itself renounced polygamy in 1935 which helped give rise to extreme off-shoots like the FLDS.
“I know it must seem strange to outsiders,” says Joyce Broadbent who shares her husband Heber with her sister Marcia.
“Oh sure, you might be closer to one than another, or someone might get on your nerves occasionally, but that’s true in any family. I’ve never felt any rivalry or jealousy at all.”
(In any other social context, bed-hopping would be frowned upon...and considering his bed-hopping has forced many boys -- known as "The lost boys" -- to leave the region...we shouldn't think there's not a social cost...Also, Brigham Young's 50+ wives & 57 children prove there's no great biological "rally" to polygamy...in much of historical polygamy, they've actually often wound up reducing the number of children per wife.)
From the article: There are around 40,000 people living in a polygamist family in Utah – about 2% of the population.
So 2% of Mormons are polygamists or are in polygamist families. These Mormons are the ones "faithful" to still existent "scriptures" saying to engage in "the principle." (See Doctrines & Covenants 132). So in this sense, the other Mormon group broke off from them -- instead of vice-versa.
From the article: The Mormon church itself renounced polygamy in 1935 which helped give rise to extreme off-shoots like the FLDS.
Some people might think this statement is inaccurate; but tis a difference between announcing something and renouncing something. The former was done in 1890. The latter occurred much later because the Lds church never widely cracked down on polygamy until later. In fact, the church secretly solemnized over 200 additional plural marriages between 1890 and 1910--often in Mexico -- even though the "honeymooning couple" didn't reside there...all the while, wives #1, 2, etc. remained back in the states. For more information on this, see B. Carmon Hardy's appendix in his book, Solemn Covenant.
Cool
I bet keeping up with birthdays and buying presents is a real PITA.
Oh great- another “mormon” article. I am not sure why people post such misleading material. Enough said.
I'm one of those critics.
Note to Jessop clan: Easy on the raw clams and oysters. They put lead in your pencil, don’t cha know?
Who pays the bills for all of those wives and children? Somehow I am thinking the taxpayers are.
Here's your BIG chance - make clear what precisely is MISLEADING about the article. Go ahead, we wait your insight.
Just an observation but minus the religous aspect how is this different from say a large segment of the NBA players that father chikldren all over the Country to many different women or to many of our elected officials that have mistresses and children in the Capital and a wife and kiddies back home?
Mormons as a rule are exceptionally industrious. It is not an accident that the state seal of Utah has beehive on it. ‘Course a man's gotta be industrious to support all them wives. I suspect that the extended families act as child care co-ops with some of the wives gainfully employed outside the home.
(It's not...and I'm glad you drew apt immoral comparisons...all of the above is reprehensible!)
Yeah, I’d like to know too. Tell us what is wrong with it.
One difference is that the Mormon fathers make explicit commitments to their children and to their children’s mothers. And the mothers do not conceive until the father has made that commitment.
Some NBA players are just reckless jerks and give only what the courts order them to. (Did you ever notice that the NBA never, ever plays on Father’s Day? Way too embarassing.)
Someone needs to explain to these guys that a lot of women view them as ATMs with penises.
I wouldn't hold my breath. Like many, this one is long on hat and short on cattle when it comes to defending their positions.
If they did not abuse entitlements and push some young women into unions too early I wouldn’t have much opinion on what is their business but those are two serious flaws in this.
Their previous leader was obviously an unhinged looking fellow
Oh, yeah...some "committment" these jerks make to their children.
They give their 12-14 year-old girls to old men as "wives" and kick the teenage boys out of the cult to avoid competition by the young men for the young girls. Paragons of virtue, they are. /Sarc
Ex-communicated FLDS Boys are Asking for Help
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| By Kimberly Houk KSL TV Channel 5 News Originally broadcast July 31, 2004 |
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| More than 400 teenage boys are wandering the streets of southern Utah ... with no where to go ... and no where to call home. They're called the "Lost Boys" ... Utah's Attorney General says they've been forced out of their polygamist homes in the community of Colorado City, Arizona ... and Hilldale, Utah. Kimberly Houk joins us from the State Capitol with more. More than 1 hundred of the "Lost Boys" filled the Capitol's steps earlier this afternoon. They were there asking for help ... and wanting to tell their story. And it's a sad story ... filled with intimate details of what it's like to be a young boy living in the polygamist colony controlled by FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs. "FISCHER: ON A MONTHLY BASIS MULTIPLE FAMILIES ARE BEING DESTROYED. CHILDREN WAKE UP FINDING THEY HAVE A NEW DADDY FINDING THAT THEY HAVE NEW BROTHERS AND SISTERS." Read more | ||||||||||||||||
| Group Discusses Plight of Boys from Fundamentalist Church | ||||||||||||||||
| KSL TV Channel 5 News Originally published July 31, 2004 |
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| Hundreds of boys from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints are speaking out and turning to you for help after facing excommunication. The boys have been expelled from the church, their families, and their homes. "Diversity", a non-profit organization, held a media conference at the State Capitol to make the public aware of their situation. "Diversity" provides mentors, financial support, housing, schooling, and counseling to help the boys learn how to excel in American society. Most of the boys were evicted for what many would consider to be normal teen behavior -- watching movies, wearing short sleeved shirts, or even just talking to girls. Read more | ||||||||||||||||
Except you need to look @ the welfare rolls in Hildale & Colorado City -- because "commitment" doesn't always include financial commitment.
I am a Catholic. I believe the misleading facet of the article is that it equates the FLDS with the LDS, who have officially disassociated themselves from polygamy.
It would be as if there were a group called the Segregationalist Southern Baptists (SSB), and a headline simply stated that “Southern Baptists Deny Blacks Access to Facilities.” People would get a false impression of the Southern Baptists.
so much for freedom of religion
Who pays the bills for all of those wives and children? Somehow I am thinking the taxpayers are.
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It is. Most polygamist wives are on welfare. Legally they are single mothers and eligible.
Also, part of FLDS doctrine (and early LDS doctrine since they are the same) is “bleeding the beast”, i.e. scamming the government out of money. So, for them, welfare fraud is a “good work”.
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