Latter-day Church of Christ
Encyclopedia
The Latter Day Church of Christ is a Mormon fundamentalist denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement
, and is also known as the Kingston Clan, the Kingston Group, The Order, the Davis County Cooperative, and The Co-op Society. There are approximately 3,500 members of this group.
created in 1941 to manage and hold the financial assets of the group. The Latter Day Church of Christ is based in Salt Lake City, Utah
.
In the early 1920s, Charles W. Kingston
was closely associated with Lorin C. Woolley, Joseph Musser, and other prominent Mormon fundamentalists living in the polygamous community of Short Creek, Arizona. They had been excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) due to their refusal to renounce polygamy as required by the Second Manifesto
issued in 1904 by then-LDS Church President Joseph F. Smith
. By 1935, following the death of J. Leslie Broadbent, the Kingstons had split from the Short Creek Mormon fundamentalists by embracing the claim of Elden Kingston, Charles W. Kingston's son, that he had been set apart as Broadbent’s Second Elder and was Broadbent's rightful successor.
Elden Kingston relocated along with his family to Davis County, Northern Utah. He claimed that an angel visited him in a cave in northern Davis County
, Utah, and directed him to establish a United Order
, or self-supporting society. Elden Kingston answered by forming the Davis County Cooperative Society in 1941. The corporation produces goods and services that are used by members, and sold
or traded to other cooperatives and to the public.
Financial holdings include: a 300 acres (1.2 km²) dairy farm in Davis County; a 3200 acres (12.9 km²) farm in Tetonia, Idaho
; and 1200 acres (4.9 km²) in Terreton, Idaho
; a cattle ranch and coal mine in Emery County; a discount store; a grocery store; restaurant supply in many western cities including Tucson, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas, Boise, and Portland. It has been rumored that they owned the United Bank but has now been confirmed as incorrect. J. Ortell Kingston aggressively pursued a financially expansive agenda for the Davis County Cooperative Society Inc. and the wealth of the Kingston clan grew.
since inception; additionally it practices close—occasionally incestuous—marriage to maintain "pure bloodlines" that they claim to trace to Jesus Christ.
The Latter Day Church of Christ also practices the Law of Consecration
, the United Order
, and the "Law of Satisfaction."
During the first years of the church, Kingston and his followers wore unique outer garments that led to people referring to them as "blue-coats." Men and boys wore blue coverall-type suits tied with strings; women and girls wore plain blue dresses. As a symbol of their renunciation of worldly goods, the outer clothing contained no pockets in which possession could be carried, although later an inside pocket was provided for the sanitary measure of carrying a handkerchief. All went bareheaded and barefoot.
The community practices plural marriage and there have been numerous legal issues regarding this in the state of Utah. However, most civil cases against Kingston clan members have been for having polygamous relationships with members of their own extended family.
The "ordained" male members of the Kingston clan are designated by numbers: “Brother #1,” “Brother #2,” “Brother #3,” etc. The children are numbered thus: If the ordained man is #47, his first wife is #147, the first male child is 1471 and the first female child 1472; the second wife's children would be #2471, #2472, #2473, and so on, with girls having even numbers and boys having odds. Charles W. Kingston taught that “Every individual...no matter what authority, standing, or station he is in, is responsible to the one above him in exactly the same way as if that individual was the Savior himself....We must look at the one above us in the same light as we look at the Savior.” This doctrine is known as the Law of Satisfaction and it places immense importance on honoring all participants with lower numbers, who are higher in the hierarchy.
The church says it believes that every child is a priceless blessing and that it emphasizes family values, education, and self-sufficiency. Children are allowed to attend public school and some go on to receive college educations. The church recently established a private school, which almost all of the children now attend.
uous marriages of close relatives in order to "perfect" the Kingston bloodline. Those marriages, if proven, could be considered illegal under Utah's consanguinity
laws. Connie Rugg, formerly one of Ortell’s plural wives, stated: "Ortell Kingston experimented [with] inbreeding with his cattle, and then he turned to his children.”
Some examples include:
of girls just attaining puberty
. Kingston Clan leaders having a "pure bloodline" have priority over almost any other members when choosing plural wives. With this advantage, girls as young as 13 were coerced into marriage as new plural wives.
The Latter Day Church of Christ has also been accused of engaging in welfare fraud
and tax evasion
. They have larger families which is typical of the older LDS teachings. John Ortell Kingston was accused of tax evasion and fraudulently obtained welfare by having his wives claim to be single mothers, claiming that he was not the father of their children. Ortell's holdings were estimated at $70 million. In 1983, the State of Utah sued Ortell Kingston for repayment of welfare subsidies his plural wives had received. While admitting no wrongdoing, Ortell paid the state $250,000 and the case was dropped.
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
, and is also known as the Kingston Clan, the Kingston Group, The Order, the Davis County Cooperative, and The Co-op Society. There are approximately 3,500 members of this group.
Establishment
The church was created in 1977 by the joint owners of the Davis County Cooperative Society Inc., a cooperativeCooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
created in 1941 to manage and hold the financial assets of the group. The Latter Day Church of Christ is based in Salt Lake City, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
.
In the early 1920s, Charles W. Kingston
Charles W. Kingston
Charles William Kingston was a member of the Latter Day Church of Christ and the Davis County Cooperative Society.-Early life:...
was closely associated with Lorin C. Woolley, Joseph Musser, and other prominent Mormon fundamentalists living in the polygamous community of Short Creek, Arizona. They had been excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) due to their refusal to renounce polygamy as required by the Second Manifesto
Second Manifesto
The "Second Manifesto" was a 1904 declaration made by Joseph F. Smith, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , in which Smith stated the church was no longer sanctioning marriages that violated the laws of the land and set down the principle that those entering into or...
issued in 1904 by then-LDS Church President Joseph F. Smith
Joseph F. Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Sr. was the sixth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
. By 1935, following the death of J. Leslie Broadbent, the Kingstons had split from the Short Creek Mormon fundamentalists by embracing the claim of Elden Kingston, Charles W. Kingston's son, that he had been set apart as Broadbent’s Second Elder and was Broadbent's rightful successor.
Elden Kingston relocated along with his family to Davis County, Northern Utah. He claimed that an angel visited him in a cave in northern Davis County
Davis County, Utah
Davis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of 2010 the population was 306,479, a 28.2% increase over the 2000 figure of 238,994. It was named for Daniel C. Davis, captain in the Mormon Battalion. The county is part of the Ogden–Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area as...
, Utah, and directed him to establish a United Order
United Order
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the United Order was one of several 19th century church collectivist programs. Early versions of the Order beginning in 1831 attempted to implement the Law of Consecration, a form of Christian communism, modeled after the New Testament church which had "all things...
, or self-supporting society. Elden Kingston answered by forming the Davis County Cooperative Society in 1941. The corporation produces goods and services that are used by members, and sold
or traded to other cooperatives and to the public.
Finances
Over the decades the Co-op has maintained extreme secrecy while developing an extensive cooperative system with assets now valued over $150 million.Financial holdings include: a 300 acres (1.2 km²) dairy farm in Davis County; a 3200 acres (12.9 km²) farm in Tetonia, Idaho
Tetonia, Idaho
Tetonia, Idaho, in Teton County is 50 miles NE of Idaho Falls, Idaho and 425 miles NW of Denver, Colorado. The city is home to some 247 residents....
; and 1200 acres (4.9 km²) in Terreton, Idaho
Terreton, Idaho
Terreton is an unincorporated agricultural community in Jefferson County, Idaho, United States. It is located at an altitude of 4,790 feet, east of Mud Lake.-External links:**...
; a cattle ranch and coal mine in Emery County; a discount store; a grocery store; restaurant supply in many western cities including Tucson, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas, Boise, and Portland. It has been rumored that they owned the United Bank but has now been confirmed as incorrect. J. Ortell Kingston aggressively pursued a financially expansive agenda for the Davis County Cooperative Society Inc. and the wealth of the Kingston clan grew.
Beliefs
The Latter Day Church of Christ claims to maintain the original beliefs and teachings of Joseph Smith Jr., viewing other sects in the Latter Day Saint movement as incorrect. The Latter Day Church of Christ has continued the practice of polygamyPolygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
since inception; additionally it practices close—occasionally incestuous—marriage to maintain "pure bloodlines" that they claim to trace to Jesus Christ.
The Latter Day Church of Christ also practices the Law of Consecration
Law of Consecration
In the Latter Day Saint movement , the term law of consecration was first used in 1831 by Joseph Smith, it was a doctrine of covenanted Christian communalism....
, the United Order
United Order
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the United Order was one of several 19th century church collectivist programs. Early versions of the Order beginning in 1831 attempted to implement the Law of Consecration, a form of Christian communism, modeled after the New Testament church which had "all things...
, and the "Law of Satisfaction."
During the first years of the church, Kingston and his followers wore unique outer garments that led to people referring to them as "blue-coats." Men and boys wore blue coverall-type suits tied with strings; women and girls wore plain blue dresses. As a symbol of their renunciation of worldly goods, the outer clothing contained no pockets in which possession could be carried, although later an inside pocket was provided for the sanitary measure of carrying a handkerchief. All went bareheaded and barefoot.
The community practices plural marriage and there have been numerous legal issues regarding this in the state of Utah. However, most civil cases against Kingston clan members have been for having polygamous relationships with members of their own extended family.
The "ordained" male members of the Kingston clan are designated by numbers: “Brother #1,” “Brother #2,” “Brother #3,” etc. The children are numbered thus: If the ordained man is #47, his first wife is #147, the first male child is 1471 and the first female child 1472; the second wife's children would be #2471, #2472, #2473, and so on, with girls having even numbers and boys having odds. Charles W. Kingston taught that “Every individual...no matter what authority, standing, or station he is in, is responsible to the one above him in exactly the same way as if that individual was the Savior himself....We must look at the one above us in the same light as we look at the Savior.” This doctrine is known as the Law of Satisfaction and it places immense importance on honoring all participants with lower numbers, who are higher in the hierarchy.
The church says it believes that every child is a priceless blessing and that it emphasizes family values, education, and self-sufficiency. Children are allowed to attend public school and some go on to receive college educations. The church recently established a private school, which almost all of the children now attend.
Intra-family marriages
The theories on genetics that could be used to "purify" the Kingston-family pedigree were reportedly developed at the Kingston Dairy, owned by the co-op in Woods Cross, Davis County, Utah. Use of these theories encouraged incestIncest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
uous marriages of close relatives in order to "perfect" the Kingston bloodline. Those marriages, if proven, could be considered illegal under Utah's consanguinity
Consanguinity
Consanguinity refers to the property of being from the same kinship as another person. In that respect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person...
laws. Connie Rugg, formerly one of Ortell’s plural wives, stated: "Ortell Kingston experimented [with] inbreeding with his cattle, and then he turned to his children.”
Some examples include:
Incest Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step... Marriages within the Kingston Clan |
Aunt An aunt is a person who is the sister or sister-in-law of a parent. A man with an equivalent relationship is an uncle, and the reciprocal relationship is that of a nephew or niece.... /Cousin Cousin In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of... LuAnn Kingston |
- Kingston Clan member Jason Ortell Kingston married his half-sister, Andrea Johnson, who became pregnant in 1992. She suffered from preeclampsiaPre-eclampsiaPre-eclampsia or preeclampsia is a medical condition in which hypertension arises in pregnancy in association with significant amounts of protein in the urine....
(toxemia) before being brought in for medical treatment. A C-sectionCaesarean sectionA Caesarean section, is a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's abdomen and uterus to deliver one or more babies, or, rarely, to remove a dead fetus...
was performed to save the baby, but Andrea died. Utah state officials believe that obstetrical care was withheld because of the possibility that the incestuous relationship would be discovered. - Jeremy Ortell Kingston was sentenced to a year in prison in 2004 for having taken LuAnn Kingston, who was his cousin and aunt, as his fourth wife in 1994.
- Kingston Clan member David O. Kingston married 15-year-old Mary Ann Kingston, who attempted to run away but was apprehended by her father, who then beat her. He was arrested and pled “no contest” to the charge of child abuse and served seven months in jail. David O. Kingston was convicted of incest and unlawful sexual conduct and sentenced to a 10-year prison term, of which he only served 4 years. Mary Ann later filed a $110-million lawsuit against members of the Kingston Clan, alleging intentional sexual abuse of a child and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Child marriage
Latter Day Church of Christ also used to practice child marriageChild marriage
Child marriage and child betrothal customs occur in various times and places, whereby children are given in matrimony - before marriageable age as defined by the commentator and often before puberty. Today such customs are fairly widespread in parts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America: in...
of girls just attaining puberty
Puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of reproduction, as initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads; the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy...
. Kingston Clan leaders having a "pure bloodline" have priority over almost any other members when choosing plural wives. With this advantage, girls as young as 13 were coerced into marriage as new plural wives.
Financial fraud
Despite the wealth of the Kingston Clan leaders, plural wives have been found living in almost inhuman conditions. Often wives' homes consisted of only small rundown clapboard houses with peeling paint and broken windows. Connie Rugg stated: "The men in the Kingston group do little or nothing to support their many wives and children". Sometimes wives will "go gardening," scrounging through garbage cans to provide food for their children and themselves.The Latter Day Church of Christ has also been accused of engaging in welfare fraud
Welfare fraud
Welfare fraud refers to various intentional misuses of state welfare systems by withholding information or giving false or inaccurate information. This may be done in small, uncoordinated efforts, or in larger, organized criminal rings...
and tax evasion
Tax evasion
Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...
. They have larger families which is typical of the older LDS teachings. John Ortell Kingston was accused of tax evasion and fraudulently obtained welfare by having his wives claim to be single mothers, claiming that he was not the father of their children. Ortell's holdings were estimated at $70 million. In 1983, the State of Utah sued Ortell Kingston for repayment of welfare subsidies his plural wives had received. While admitting no wrongdoing, Ortell paid the state $250,000 and the case was dropped.
Leaders
- Paul Elden KingstonPaul Elden KingstonPaul Elden Kingston has been the leader of the Mormon fundamentalist Latter Day Church of Christ and the Davis County Cooperative Society in the USA since 1987....
, (1987– ) - John Ortell KingstonJohn Ortell KingstonJohn Ortell Kingston was the leader of the Kingston Clan of Mormon fundamentalists in Davis County, Utah, from 1947 until his death in 1987.-Latter Day Church of Christ Membership:J. Ortell Kingston was the son of Charles W...
(1944–1987) - Elden KingstonElden KingstonCharles Elden Kingston was the founder of The Latter Day Church of Christ and the Davis County Cooperative Society.Elden Kingston was supported by his father Charles W. Kingston, his mother Vesta Minerva Kingston, and his siblings as the leader of the Latter Day Church of Christ...
(1935–1947) - Charles W. KingstonCharles W. KingstonCharles William Kingston was a member of the Latter Day Church of Christ and the Davis County Cooperative Society.-Early life:...
(founding patriarch, supported leaders from 1935 until his death in 1975)
Kingston Group Assets
The Utah holdings of the Davis County Cooperative are estimated at more than $2 million. including the following:- A-1 Disposal
- AAA Security
- Advance Vending
- AM Security Alarm Co.
- American Digital Systems
- ANR Company Inc.
- Arrow Real Estate
- Bail Bond Specialists
- Best Distributing Amusement Games
- C.O.P. Coal Development Co.
- C.W. Mining Co. (Related entities: Co-Op Mine; CoOp Mining Co.)
- Coalt Inc.
- D.U. Company Inc.
- Davis County Cooperative Society Inc.
- Desert Tactical Arms
- Johns Market
- Family Stores True Value
- Fidelity Funding Corp.
- Fountain of Youth Health & Athletic Club
- Garco Industrial Park
- H.K. Engineering Inc.
- Hiawatha Coal Co. Inc.
- Holtz Inc.
- IA Castle Corp.
- Kalvin Property Company
- Kingston Dairy
- Little Red School House Montessori
- Men's Shoe Repair and Men's Store
- Mountain Vendors Machine Distributors
- Mountain Coin Machine Distributors
- N.U.B. Corp.
- National Business Management Inc.
- P.M.C. Inc
- PGAC Inc.
- RE Company Inc.
- Speciality Consulting Services Inc.
- Spezialized Inc.
- Sportsman's Bail Bond Specialists
- Sportsman's Fast Cash
- Sportsman's Pawn Shops
- Standard Industries Inc.
- Standard Restaurant Equipment Company
- The Larken Ranch
- U.P.C. Inc
- North Low Creek Irrigation & Power Co.
- Westmark Inc.
- Western Enterprises
See also
- Factional breakdown: Mormon fundamentalist sects
- Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent FaithUnder the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent FaithUnder the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith is an investigative non-fiction book by best-selling author Jon Krakauer, first published in July 2003...
- List of Mormon fundamentalist churches
- List of Mormon fundamentalist leaders
- Mormon fundamentalism
- Plural marriagePlural marriagePolygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...