Church of the Firstborn (LeBaron family)

The Church of the Firstborn (or the "LeBarón family") is a grouping of competing factions of a Mormon fundamentalist religious lineage inherited, adherents believe, by a polygamous family community that had settled in Chihuahua, Mexico, by Alma Dayer LeBaron Sr. by 1924.

"Colonia LeBaron" redirects here. For additional Latter Day Saint sects with the name Church of the Firstborn, see Church of the Firstborn (disambiguation).
Church of the Firstborn
of the Fulness of Times
TypeLatter Day Saint movement
ClassificationMormon fundamentalism
TheologyNontrinitarian
GovernanceHierarchical
HeadquartersColonia LeBarón, Chihuahua, Mexico
FounderJoel LeBaron
OriginSeptember 21, 1955
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Branched fromApostolic United Brethren
and mainstream LDS Church
SeparationsChurch of the Firstborn (Rival entity founded by Ross Wesley LeBaron, December 1955. By 1962 its missionary work subsumed to a degree into that of the Fulness of Times')[1]
Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God (founded by Ervil LeBaron, 1972)[2]
Informal schisms:
Unknown
Number of followers"A few hundred" in Chihuahua and as many in the Salt Lake City area[3]
 to, perhaps, 1,000[4]
Other name(s)Church of the Firstborn, or
"LeBaron group"
PublicationsThus Joel taught. 1983.
Church Of The Firstborn Of The Fulness Of Times, Ingólfur Guðbrandsson (2008). Thus saith the Lord. ISBN 9780615213903.
Church of the Firstborn
(Ross Wesley LeBaron's
and mutually rival successors)
HeadquartersOriginally Salt Lake City, Utah (present headquarters disputed)
FounderRoss Wesley LeBaron
OriginDecember 1955
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Branched fromApostolic United Brethren
and mainstream LDS Church
Number of followersUnknown. (Note: Includes a hundred or more in Collier group; additional number in Green group)
Other name(s)"Order of God,"
"Collier group,"
"Green group"
etc.
PublicationsDoctrine of the priesthood. Vol. 1–18 (+?). ISBN 9780934964425.
Official websiteChurch-of-the-Firstborn.org

Factions accepting leadership succession by some of Alma Dayer LeBaron Sr.'s sons self-describe as members of the Church of the Firstborn, without a legally formalized organization. What became over time the most substantial faction is that of Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times, often shortened as the Church of the Firstborn, which was founded in September 1955 by three of Alma's sons, Joel, R. Wesley, and Floren LeBaron.

Since its founding, the order's most notable enclave has been within the jurisdiction of Galeana Municipality, Chihuahua. The LeBarons christened the LeBaron ranch Colonia Le Barón in the 1950s. Especially in more recent years, it is a minor segment of the order that engages in the practice of polygamy.[5]

A substantial fraction of residents residing on and nearby order members' landholdings at Colonia LeBarón are not affiliated with the order, many of them identifying themselves on census reports as Roman Catholic and most of the remainder as evangélico (Protestant). A community that has inter-married but separate beliefs to Colonia Le Barón's is a three-hour drive away in rancho La Mora, 150 full-time residents strong, in Sonora.[6][7]

Establishment

The LeBaron family, led by Alma Dayer LeBaron Sr., affiliated with the leadership of Mormon fundamentalist leader Joseph White Musser beginning in 1936. In June 1944, five of Dayer LeBaron's sons, Alma Jr., Benjamin T., Ervil, Ross Wesley, and Joel, were excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for teaching and practicing plural marriage.[8][9] For the next 11 years, a number of LeBarons associated themselves to various degrees with Rulon C. Allred's Apostolic United Brethren.

On December 9, 1957, Dayer's son Ben T. LeBaron said, wrote Samuel W. Taylor a letter saying that Ben believed himself to have received the birthright from his father and also believed Ben was to be the One Mighty and Strong of Joseph Smith's 1832 prophesy, sent to redeem LDS people from spiritual bondage.[10]

Soon thereafter, various LeBarons declared that their family was possessed of especial priesthood keys of authority to a pre-millennial demi-messianic office or offices, in the restored earthly kingdom of God, with their ultimate leader said to possess this Right of the Firstborn becoming variously titled for example the One Mighty and Strong, the Presiding Patriarch in All the World, and so forth, the LeBarons' believing him the rightful heir of Joseph Smith Jr.'s mantle as leader of the early Latter Day Saints' Council of Fifty (via early Latter Day Saint Council of Fifty member Benjamin F. Johnson).[11][12]

On September 21, 1955, Joel LeBaron and his brothers Ross and Floren visited Salt Lake City, Utah, and there organized the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times; Joel was ordained President of the Church, with Floren as first counselor in the First Presidency and Ross as head patriarch. Shortly thereafter, Joel reported being visited by nineteen former prophets, including Jesus, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and Joseph Smith. In early 1956, the LeBaron brothers returned to Chihuahua. Their father Alma and brother Ervil became the fourth and fifth members of the new church; their mother Maud also eventually joined. Several months later, Ervil LeBaron published a pamphlet titled "Priesthood Expounded", which became a foundational text for the order.

A rival organizational structure for the order – which is named, in full, the Church of the Firstborn – additionally was formed in 1955 by Ross Wesley LeBaron, which Wesley thereafter led from its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.[13][14] Wesley believed he had been sent to prepare the way for the One Mighty and Strong, who would be "an Indian prophet"[15] Joel and R. Wesley respectively claimed their especial "Firstborn order" priesthood lines of authority from Alma Dayer LeBaron, who had been ordained by Dayer's grandfather Benjamin F. Johnson, who had received these priesthood keys from Joseph Smith. LeBaron invited Allred and his followers to join their new order, but their invitation was rejected.

Three notable followers have been Fred Collier, Tom Green, and Robert Rey Black.[14][16] This sect has attracted fewer adherents than had the earlier Firstborn faction co-founded by Wesley and headed by his brother Joel. Since Wesley's passing, some would-be successor groups generally are not termed as being "LeBarons" or the like; e.g., as of 2004, there were about 100 members of the Collier branch of the Firstborn order branch in Hanna, Utah with additional sect members living in Mexico;[1][17] likewise, the Tom Green group consider themselves heirs to the Wesley LeBaron-founded organization.

Name

According to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, within mainstream Latter-day Saint beliefs, The Church of the Firstborn refers to "Christ's heavenly church: [...] exalted beings who gain an inheritance in the highest heaven of the celestial world."[18] In LeBaron order belief, the Church of the Firstborn refers to those led by ones holding the "patriarchal order of priesthood" (which the LeBaron order holds as the key to over-all leadership of God's pre-Millennial kingdom) passed down via a chain of succession from Joseph Smith.[19]

The phrase fulness of times refers to the Gospel dispensation of the fulness of times within Latter Day Saint belief.

Colonia Le Barón

Colonia Le Barón is located in the northwest of the state of Chihuahua, near the towns of Nuevo Casas Grandes, Colonia Juárez and Colonia Dublán. It lies thirteen kilometers (8 miles) south of the county seat of Galeana and twenty-one kilometers (13 miles) north of San Buenaventura, its main means of access from Mexican Federal Highway 10. Its geographical coordinates are 30 ° 00'45 "N 107 ° 34'03" W and is located at an altitude 1,480 meters (6,036 feet) above sea level. According to the results of the Census of Population and Housing 2005 by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, the population of Le Baron is 1,051 inhabitants, of which 496 are men and 555 are women.[20]

The population of Colonia Le Barón includes several hundred practitioners of the Church of the Firstborn faith,[3][21][22][23][24] along with additional followers in Baja California, California, Central America, and Utah.[25]

According to the Instituto Nacional para el Federalismo y el Desarrollo Municipal, Gobierno del Estado de Chihuahua, Colonia LeBaron's population was 1,137. Galeana (which includes LeBaron)'s population was 3,763 in 1996. The predominant religion was Roman Catholic, at 80.9% of the population of people over 15, with the remainder principally Mormon (viz., "Latter Day Saint movement members") and evangelico ("Protestant").

Missionary work

The Church of the Firstborn is one of the few Mormon fundamentalist churches to have engaged in active proselytization. While most of their efforts have been focused on attracting Mormon fundamentalists from other groups to join their order, missionaries of the church have preached and distributed tracts at the LDS Church strongholds of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and outside the gates of Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The church's pamphlet "Priesthood Expounded" and other tracts became instrumental in the conversion of nine LDS Church missionaries of the church's French Mission to the LeBaron order, an incident that has been described as the "worst missionary apostasy in the history of the [LDS] Church".[26]

1970s–Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God
Main article: Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God
Church of the First Born
of the Lamb of God
HeadquartersLos Molinos, Baja California, Mexico
FounderErvil LeBaron
Origin
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Separated fromChurch of the Firstborn
of the Fulness of Times
Number of followersUnknown, may have a few adherents in Los Molinos, Baja California, and elsewhere

By 1962, Ervil LeBaron was the Presiding Patriarch of the church and number two in authority to Joel LeBaron. By 1967 he was teaching that he, not Joel, was the proper head of the church. Joel and other leaders of the church denounced Ervil and released him from his position.

In August 1972, Ervil LeBaron and his followers established the rival Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God. (The designation Church of the Lamb alludes to the Book of Mormon prophesy holding there to eventually be only two groups in the end times, the Church of the Lamb of God and the church of the devil; see, e.g. 1 Ne. 14: 12.) Ervil began teaching his followers that he was the "One Mighty and Strong" prophesied of in the Doctrine and Covenants, and he prophesied that "Joel will be put to death". On 20 August 1972, Joel LeBaron was shot in the head by one of Ervil's followers, becoming one of the victims of the Ervil LeBaron murders (in which members of the Church of the Lamb of God committed dozens of assassinations of both members of its parent LeBaron sect and of other Mormon fundamentalist groups).[27][28][29][30][31]

Abel LeBaron was arrested on family violence and attempted murder charges in Galeana, Chihuahua, on December 9, 2020.[32]

Recent history

Succession

The Church of the Firstborn has experienced ongoing leadership succession controversies following its founder's assassination.[28] Joel was succeeded by his brother Verlan, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1981. Joel LeBaron, Jr. and Siegfried Josef Widmar headed rival factions of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times. Additionally a new Church of the Firstborn faction had arisen under Alma LeBaron, Jr., referred to as the Economic Government of God;[33] and Floren LeBaron had helped to form a loosely organized faction recognizing no formal leader.[34]

Attacks by Juárez or Sonoran narcoterrorists
See also: LeBarón family massacre

In 2009, the LeBaron enclave in Mexico received national attention in Mexico within the context of war against drug trafficking in Mexico, especially in the northwestern region of the state of Chihuahua. On May 2, Erick Le Baron, 17, was kidnapped for an attempted ransom of US$1 million. However, the spokesman of the LeBaron community had previously announced its decision not to pay any ransom but instead to seek the release of the man, who was freed by his captors on May 10 without a ransom being paid.[35] Throughout this event, the community spoke out publicly, both in the state capital, Chihuahua, and national and international media against the growing insecurity experienced in the region and maintained its intention to continue a policy of refusal to pay ransoms in cases of possible kidnappings.

On July 6, 2009, Erick's brother, Benjamin, and another order member, Luis Widmar Stubbs, were kidnapped and soon thereafter were murdered on the streets of Colonia LeBaron by a group of armed assailants, who left a written message with the victims' bodies which stated that this crime was in retaliation for Benjamin's activism against the traffickers.[36][37][38]

In the immediate aftermath, the Mexicans manned a garrison in the town.[39] In 2012, Chihuahua state legislator Alex LeBaron began campaigning for change to Mexican gun laws to legalize arming citizens for self-defense.[40]

A dispute over water between the LeBaron "family" and neighboring people belonging to El Barzon broke out in violence when members of the family shot at a group of 500 people who wanted to destroy illegal wells on the ranch.[41] In May 2018 El Barzon accused the LeBaron family and other large agribusinesses of violating a 1957 agreement by drilling 395 illegal wells in Namiquipa, Riva Palacio, Buenaventura, and Ahumada municipalities. They are also accused of using false documents to back their claims.[42][43] Heraclio Rodríguez of El Barzon says the LeBaron family are protected by 40 state and federal police.[44][45]

Three woman and six children from La Mora, Sonora, all "independent Mormons" with intermarriage ties to the become-amorphous Church of the Firstborn[46] and who hold dual US-Mexican citizenship, were victims of a massacre, shot and burned alive in three vehicles on a road in Sonora on November 4, 2019.[47] Authorities speculated that the group, which was driving from Bavispe, Sonora, to a wedding in LeBaron, was mistakenly ambushed by one of the rival drug cartels that are fighting for territory in the area. In addition to the nine people who were killed, six children were injured, one was unharmed, and one was missing.[48][49] United States President Donald Trump offered to send troops to Mexico to "wage war" on drug cartels, an offer that was quickly rejected by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who thanked foreign nations for their offers of aid while also saying "War is irrational. We are for peace."[50] Five children injured in the attack were sent to a hospital in the United States.[51]

Memoirs

In 2006, Susan Ray Schmidt, sixth wife of Verlan LeBaron, published His Favorite Wife[52] (updated in 2009[53][54]), in 2007 Irene Spencer, wife of Verlan LeBaron, published Shattered Dreams[55] and in 2009, Cult Insanity,[56] – rebutted in 2011 by Thomas J. Liddiard in Shedding Light: Some Observations of a Book Entitled 'Cult Insanity'[57] – and in 2016 Ruth Wariner, daughter of Joel LeBaron, published The Sound of Gravel about experience in the religious group.[58]

For true-crime portrayals of the Church of the Lamb of God murders or Ervil faction memoirs, see Ervil LeBaron § Depictions.

Further information

See also

Notes
  1. Wright, Lyle O. (1963). "Origins and Development of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times" (Master's thesis). p. 40.
  2. Baer, Hans A. (1988). Recreating Utopia in the Desert: A Sectarian Challenge to Modern Mormonism. State University of New York Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780887066818.
  3. Bennion, Janet (2012). Polygamy in Primetime: Media, Gender, and Politics in Mormon Fundamentalism. UPNE. p. 43. ISBN 9781611682960.
  4. Fagen, Jennifer Lara; Wright, Stuart A. (2004). "Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Empowerment in Mormon Fundamentalist Communities". Sexuality and New Religious Movements. Palgrave Macmillan US. p. 9–28. doi:10.1057/9781137386434_2. ISBN 978-1-349-68146-4. Infighting over who would lead the group led the LeBarons to officially split from the AUB and create the Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times, which is now known as the LeBaron Group (Bennion 2011a). The membership of the LeBaron Group is approximately 1,000
  5. Booth, William (July 23, 2009). "Drug Cartels Target Mormon Clans in Mexico". The Washington Post.
  6. "Commentary: A Tribune reporter's account of covering the killings of U.S. Citizens in Mexico".
  7. "'I'll Never Come Back': Massacre Shatters U.S. Community in Mexico - WSJ". Wall Street Journal. 12 November 2019.
  8. "The Church Moves On: Excommunications". The Improvement Era. December 1944. pp. 790–791.
  9. Brian C. Hales. "MF0048: LeBaron, Joel, 'The Excommunication of Joel LeBaron', photocopy of carbon copy" (PDF). Fundamentalist Documents. MormonPolygamyDocuments.org. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  10. "Dear Sam [Samuel W. Taylor]" (PDF). MormonPoligamy.org.
  11. Janet Bennion (2004). Desert Patriarchy: Mormon and Mennonite Communities in the Chihuahua Valley (Tucson: University of Arizona Press) ISBN 0-8165-2334-7
  12. Brian C. Hales (2006). Modern Polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalists: The Generations After the Manifesto. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books. p. 429–. ISBN 978-1-58958-035-0.
  13. Ross Wesley LeBaron (2017-07-29). "Ross LeBaron: Keys Given to Joel LeBaron | The Holy Order and The Church of The Firstborn" (transcript). HolyOrder.Org. Retrieved 2017-11-18(excerpt from talk given on KSXX, December 25, 1987){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  14. Hales, Brian C. "Ross Wesley LeBaron". mormonfundamentalism.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  15. Davidson, Staff Writer (June 28, 1988), "Several Men Claim to be The 'One Mighty and Strong'", Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, retrieved April 12, 2011
  16. Robert Rey Black (November 19, 2011). "The Church of the Firstborn, Temple Ordinances and the AUB: Statement Concerning Circumstances Surrounding the Commencement of Temple Ordinances by the Apostolic United Brethren (Allred Group)". HolyOrder.org. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  17. Moore-Emmett, Andrea (2004). God's Brothel. Pince-Nez Press. ISBN 9781930074132.
  18. Daniel H. Ludlow (1992). "Church of the Firstborn". Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York: Macmillan. p. 276.
  19. Ross LeBaron (April 1992). Doctrine of the Priesthood Vol 9 No. 4 - The Church of the Firstborn and its Principles and Doctrinal Teachings and a Short History of Succession in the Priesthood. Salt Lake City, Utah: Collier's Publishing Company. p. 47. ISBN 9780934964715.
  20. "Archivo histórico de localidades". Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. Archived from the original on 2012-06-30.
  21. Brian C. Hales (2005). "Reviews: Janet Bennion, Desert Patriarchy: Mormon and Mennonite Communities in the Chihuahua Valley". Journal of Mormon History. 31 (1): 216.
  22. Bennion, Janet (2004). Desert Patriarchy: Mormon and Mennonite Communities in the Chihuahua Valley. University of Arizona Press. ISBN 9780816523344.
  23. Booth, William (July 23, 2009). "Ambushed by a Drug War: Mormon Clans in Mexico Find Themselves Targets of the Cartels". Washington Post.
  24. Althaus, Dudley (July 11, 2009). "In killings, sect suffers a new bloody chapter". Houston Chronicle.
  25. D. Michael Quinn (1997). Martin E. Marty; R. Scott Appleby (eds.). Fundamentalisms and Society: Reclaiming the Sciences, the Family, and Education: Volume 2 of The Fundamentalism Project. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-50881-8.
  26. Kahlile Mehr, "The Trial of the French Mission" Archived 2011-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 21, no. 3 (Autumn 1988) pp. 27–45.
  27. Harvey Rice, Houston Chronicle (2011-06-16). "Cult leader's daughter's guilty plea draws bloody saga to close - Houston Chronicle". Chron.com. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  28. The Primer, Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities: Fundamentalist Mormon Communities (PDF), Utah Attorney General’s Office and Arizona Attorney General's Office, June 2006, retrieved June 29, 2010, The group splintered after members committed a string of assassinations in the 1980's.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  29. Chynoweth, Rena (1990). The Blood Covenant. Eakin Pr. pp. 5 & 205. ISBN 978-0890157688.
  30. Spencer, Irene (2009). Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement. ISBN 9781599952130.
  31. Jon Krakauer (2004). Under the banner of heaven: a story of violent faith. p. 266. ISBN 9781400078998.
  32. Villalpando, Rubén. "Detienen a integrante de la familia LeBaron por intento de homicidio". www.jornada.com.mx (in Spanish). La Jornada. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  33. "Ervil LeBarons bloodyda doctrine of vengeance haunts his [rivals] in this polygamous community". Times-News (Idaho). July 2, 1988.
  34. Brian C. Hales. "MF0224 LeBarons, research file" (PDF). Fundamentalist Documents. MormonPolygamyDocuments.org. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  35. "Plagio de hermano lo llevó a la muerte". El Universal. 8 July 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
  36. "Matan a Benjamín Le Barón, activista contra secuestros". El Universal. 8 July 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
  37. "Plagiarios castigan a pueblo en rebeldía". El Universal. 8 July 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
  38. Joaquín Fuentes (8 July 2009). "Asesinan a líder mormón Benjamín Le Barón". Milenio Diario. Archived from the original on 10 July 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
  39. "Law-Abiding Mexicans Taking Up Illegal Guns". NPR. 2012-01-28. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  40. "Brothers in tiny Mexican town push for changes to nation's strict gun-control laws | Dallas Morning News". Dallasnews.com. 2012-12-30. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  41. "Menonitas atacan a ejidatarios en disputa por pozos de agua" [Menonites (sic) attack peasants in dispute over wells], La Jornada (in Spanish), Apr 20, 2018, retrieved Nov 4, 2019
  42. Crece pugna por el agua en amplia zona de Chihuahua La Jornada retrieved Nov 4, 2019
  43. Explota la familia LeBarón acuíferos en Chihuahua con documentos falsos La Jornada retrieved Nov 4, 2019
  44. "Da Corral cobijo policiaco a tierras de los LeBarón" La Jornada, May 22, 2018, retrieved Nov 4, 2019
  45. "Catean Profepa y Conagua rancho de los LeBarón en busca de pozos ilegales" [Government agencies Profepa and Conagua search LeBaron ranch for illegal wells], La Jornada (in Spanish), May 28, 2018
  46. The Washington Post
  47. Jesús Estrada (Nov 4, 2019), "Queman a una mujer y sus 4 hijos de la familia LeBarón" [A woman and her four children, members of the LeBaron family, burned], La Jornanda (in Spanish), retrieved Nov 4, 2019
  48. Bill Chappell (Nov 5, 2019), "At Least 9 Members Of Mormon Family Die In Highway Attack In Mexico", NPR, retrieved Nov 5, 2019
  49. Adrianna Rodriguez (Nov 5, 2019), "A Mormon family was brutally killed. What we know about the Mexico attack", USA Today, retrieved Nov 5, 2019
  50. "At least 9 members of American family killed in Mexico, most of them kids", CBS News, Nov 5, 2019
  51. Trasladan a EU a niños heridos en emboscada a los LeBarón: Landau La Jornada retrieved Nov 5, 2019
  52. Schmidt, Susan Ray (2006). His Favorite Wife: A True Story of Violent Fanaticism - Susan Ray Schmidt - Google Books. ISBN 9780977973002. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  53. Dana Dugan (2006-09-15). "Idaho Mountain Express: Fanaticism and polygamy: A woman's story - September 15, 2006". Archives.mtexpress.com. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  54. Dalrymple, Jim (August 8, 2013). "Lifetime offers melodrama with 'Escape From Polygamy'". sltrib.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-19. Retrieved 2016-04-06.
  55. Spencer, Irene (2007). Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife. ISBN 9781599950310.
  56. Spencer, Irene (2009). Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement. ISBN 9781599952130.
  57. Liddiard, Thomas J. (2011). Shedding Light: Some Observations of a Book Entitled 'Cult Insanity'. ISBN 9781463434434.
  58. Kristen Mascia (2016-01-03). ""Polygamy stunts a woman's mind": "The Sound of Gravel" author Ruth Wariner on her fundamentalist Mormon childhood, becoming a feminist and life after leaving the church". Salon.com. Retrieved 2016-04-18.

References
  • Janet Bennion (2004). Desert Patriarchy: Mormon and Mennonite Communities in the Chihuahua Valley (Tucson: University of Arizona Press) ISBN 0-8165-2334-7
  • Ben Bradlee (1981). Prophet of Blood: The Untold Story of Ervil Lebaron and the Lambs of God (New York: Putnam) ISBN 0-399-12371-7
  • Brian C. Hales (2006). Modern Polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism: The Generations After the Manifesto (Salt Lake City, Utah: Greg Kofford Books) ISBN 1-58958-035-4
  • D. Michael Quinn, "Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 31, no. 2 (Summer 1998) pp. 1–68 at pp. 16–18, 23
  • Steven L. Shields (1990, 4th ed.). Divergent Paths of the Restoration (Independence, Mo.: Herald House) ISBN 0-942284-13-5
  • Lyle O. Wright (1963). "Origins and Development of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times." (M.S. thesis: Brigham Young University)
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