John Ortell Kingston was the leader of the Latter Day Church of Christ of Mormon fundamentalists in Davis County, Utah, from 1948 until his death in 1987.
Background
John Ortell Kingston was the son of Charles W. Kingston, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Latter- Day Saints (Mormons) Church) who had been excommunicated from the Latter- Day Saints (Mormons) Church on March 4, 1929.
Career
Often, homes consisted of only small rundown clapboard houses, with peeling paint and broken windows. Kingston"s holdings were estimated at $70 million. While admitting no wrongdoing, Kingston paid the state $250,000 and the case was dropped.
Kingston had worked on a dairy farm owned by the co-op at Woodscross, Davis County, Utah, where he reportedly developed theories on genetics that he later decided could be used to purify his own family pedigree.
Using these theories he implemented practices which encouraged intra-family marriages of close relatives, in order to perfect his own bloodline. Those marriages, if discovered, would be considered incestuous under Utah consanguinity laws.
Kingston died in 1987 and was living plural marriage until his death. Ortell accumulated at least thirteen wives and dozens of children.
Views
Quotations:
"The men in the Kingston group do little or nothing to support their many wives and children".