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Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Rockdale Ranch and the Foster Family

Solar panels and cliff dwellers

Every report about the Foster family's Rockdale Ranch, near Moab, Utah, starts with photographs. The architecture is stunning. Brightly colored house fronts seem precariously tacked on to the enormous sandstone rock. Beyond the facades are large internal rooms carved into the sandstone. Ceilings, walls and floors reveal the rock they were cut from. 
The views from these homes are extraordinary: scrub and dirt spread out forever under the enormous Utah sky.

The ranch sits on 82 acres of state school trust land that is leased from the government at a cost of about $6400 per year.

Bob Foster

Bob Foster was a polygamous fundamentalist Mormon. He was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1972 and convicted for bigamy in 1974, for which he served a prison term of 20 days. This experience motivated him to provide a place of safety where his family might be free of persecution.

Foster was also convinced that the end of the world was imminent. He started the ranch in 1979 with a 50 year lease. He did not expect that the government would last long enough to renew. He expected society to crumble amid disasters and wars. Foster taught that the future struggle and instability would not be the end of the world, but the movement of the world into a new and different epoch. "It isn't that it is coming to the end of the world, it is coming to the beginning of a different one," he said, adding that "I'm not the only one who sees we're headed for  brick wall."

Rockdale Ranch is the outworking of those two main elements of Bob Foster's beliefs. They also influenced his son, Enoch, who took over as leader after Bob passed away in 2008.

Foster's Family

Bob Foster's first wife divorced him. I haven't found any details about her, for example, how long they were married, why she left, how many children they had and what became of them. I don't know if he supported them after the divorce. This is important because of Foster's involvement in promoting plural marriage among LDS. He was considered an intellectual, who had taught at Seminary before his excommunication. He was closely affiliated with Anne Wilder, who is a pro polygamy activist in Salt Lake City.

According to the Denver Post article, Bob Foster had three wives, 38 children and 82 grandchildren. Of these, one wife, 6 children and an undetermined number of grandchildren lived in the community.

“When it comes to plural marriage, Foster admits he is considered a radical.
He urged his wives to find careers … Second wife Susan went to Durango to work in accounting. Fourth wife Carla went to medical school and is now a physician near Salt Lake City. Third wife Karen opted to stay at the rock, where she raises Yorkshire terriers, tends an organic garden and runs a trash transfer station several days a week in La Sal.
"You don't control peoples' lives," Foster emphasizes. "That is wicked. You set them free."
Susan and Carla spend time at Rockland. Each of them has a cavern blasted into the rock so that homes can be built for them if they should decide to live here full-time again.

Most of Foster's children have lived off the rock for periods with their mothers. Some want nothing to do with Rockland. But some are on board with their father's vision.”

Foster's son, Enoch, lives at the Ranch with his 2 wives and many children.

One of Foster's daughters, Melinda Morrison, claimed that only 6 of her siblings (including her) had chosen to live polygamy. 
In 2008, Melinda conceded that her sister wife had moved to Park City. Melinda said, “We had different ways of doing things.”
In 2012, responding to an article in The Atlantic, Melinda claimed to be living in a plural marriage at the ranch. She had some interesting comments about it.

“Just like all of our women do not choose this lifestyle. Not all of the Men do either.  I am one of six out of thirty eight siblings that Chose, Yes chose! this life style.    In fact I stunned my husband when I told him that I wanted to make the choice.   It is a choice that I continue to make everyday.   My children also have a choice.  I would never push it on my children.  I do not even want them to choose it unless it is absolutely what they want in their inner most heart.  We woman have a choice.  It is not pushed on us by powerful men.  In fact the Men here are some of the most descent (sic) humble and kind hearted  you could ever meet.  Which is why several woman are willing to share them.  They would rather have part of  very good Man than all of a  partly good.” (italics mine).
On the subject of government assistance, Melinda wrote:

“For your information we are very much against government assistance and live off the sweat of our own labors.  Be careful next time you make snap judgement about people  you don't know.”
                   
Another of Foster's daughters, Anna Knecht, lives at Rockdale and is monogamous.

Other Residents

In 2006, five families moved to the rock from Colorado City. There were claims that they had been kicked out of Colorado City because the older men wanted the young girls for themselves. The Fosters insist Rockdale is not at all related to the FLDS. It isn't a polygamous community. It's not even a Mormon community. Residents are Mormon, Baptist, FLDS and 'hybrids'.

One of Enoch's wives, Lilian, said anyone who wants to live at Rockland Ranch has to pass a six-month "trial period" where they are expected to spend time in the community and ingratiate themselves with their future neighbours before they can buy a home.

Self sufficiency

Foster raised his family to be self sufficient. Children at the Ranch work alongside their parents in cultivating their own food. They have an orchard, vegetable gardens, cows and chickens. They have a large water storage reservoir on the rock. They have solar panels and a generator. They minimise household utility costs as the rock moderates indoor temperatures. In winter, they use small wood burning stoves to keep their homes warm. Soot from these is discolouring the rock above the chimneys.

Rockdale Ranch is isolated, but the residents embrace modern technology. They have solar power and generators. They have the internet.

We get the impression that Rockdale Ranch is not as forbidding as YFZ Ranch or Hilldale. There are no prairie dresses or swarms of children. There is no temple either (although they have a baptismal font). People seem free to come and go as they please. We have seen that Foster's wives were able to live outside the community. Foster welcomed tourists to his place, until 9/11 happened and the tourists stopped coming. 

None of them admit to being on welfare or food stamps. There is no evidence of bankruptcies or bleeding the beast with this group (although, there is a question mark over Foster's first wife).

Foster described himself as an independent fundamentalist. Before embracing plural marriage, he was a seminary teacher in Salt Lake. Two of his wives had been theology students of his. He was known as a colourful character, popular enough with residents of nearby towns and always willing to discuss religion. Locals appreciated the group's hard working reputation and their efforts to be self sufficient.

Bob Foster and his son speak to reporters from time to time. They have allowed photographers on their property. They portray themselves as progressive. Their main concern with publicity is an unwillingness to be labelled doomsday preppers because that carries connotations of rednecks in the backwoods who are ridiculed by society at large.

Scratch the surface, however, and you discover signs that Foster wasn't as radical as he claimed to be regarding polygamy.

Bob Foster was a very good friend of Anne Wilde, a pro-polygamy author, associated with Principal Voices. Wilde knew Foster for 35 years or so. She even owned one of the houses at Rockdale for a while. She said he is the only person she knew who had a grand vision and then accomplished it.

In a post on the website4thefamily.us - Anne wilde reported, "I greatly admire him for his desire to provide an opportunity to raise their children in an atmorsphere where they learn to garden, raise animals, get water and power, repair machinery and build homes along with their academic schooling and religious training." "It's not a sex party..He is a friend to a lot of people and welcomes them down there," Wilde said.

Wilde and Foster appear in a book called Polygamy's Rape of Rachael Strong: Protected Environment for Predators by John R. Llewellyn, published in 2006. According to Llewellyn, Wilde, her husband Ogden Kraut and Foster actively promoted plural marriage among LDS and were seen as intellectuals, able to explain why polygamy should be practiced (even though it's illegal). This disturbing anecdote appears in Llewellyn's book:

One of their proteges was already married and his wife was pregnant with their 6th child. The husband had been attending meetings with Foster and Wilde. As a result, he decided to live plural marriage and had been 'courting' a single mother behind his wife's back. When the single mother asked if his wife was in agreement, he lied and said she was. A phone call from the potential second wife to the first wife revealed the truth. The husband insisted that the theologians who had been teaching him were right. The wife thought she needed to meet these intellectuals for herself.

She wanted to save her marriage. The wife asked Wilde and Foster for help. They ordered her to submit to her husband's wish and agree to plural marriage. They used the Law of Sarah, from Joseph Smith's Book of Abraham. That 'law' said that Sarah 'had the privilege of giving consent but not dissent” - and that the poor woman's husband had the right to 'sacrifice her' if she didn't agree to plural marriage. (Llewellin pp 90 – 93). That meant that he could abandon his wife and her children and refuse to provide for them if she didn't agree with having sister wives.

So, although Bob Foster portrayed himself as fairly relaxed by not (publicly) insisting that everyone live plural marriage, he was enough of a fundamentalist to enforce the idea that women who don't agree with it can be abandoned. Although he taught his own family to provide for themselves, he endorsed other men's decisions to leave their wives and children with nothing if they refused to agree to polygamy. And there remains the mystery of his first wife, who divorced him. Did he follow his own advice and abandon her?

There are links between groups of polygamists. Even independent fundamentalist Mormon polygamists justify their beliefs and behaviour using the same texts, including the Bible, the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. They seem quite heartless in their treatment of women who don't agree with them.


So when we see the Foster family describe the Ranch as " ...simply a place where we strive to respect each other's differences," we might wonder exactly what that means when a monogamous woman refuses to follow her husband into polygamy. Cutting her off without a penny is hardly respectful, especially if she is left to raise your children without support.
By Sister Katie


Sources: http://www.4thefamily.us/Bob_foster  http://www.flickr.com/photos/12150532@N04/7035823265/in/photostream/ 
 (http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/11/polygamists-in-the-rock/100406/)

65 comments:

  1. Very interesting. Although they tout freedom, the end sentence says it all.

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  2. I'm confused. How is this not living off the government: "The ranch sits on 82 acres of state school trust land that is leased from the government at a cost of about $6400 per year."

    So they pay a pittance of $6400 for all the government land their entire community uses for houses, gardens, play areas, etc. I'm curious how that came about, and how many people in the US can use government property for their homes and community land in that way.

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    1. Many. It comes out as a public notice. nothing awry here.

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    2. It's a 50 year lease, set to expire in 16 years or so. There's no guarantee that the government will extend the lease. If the government resumes the land, the Foster family might have to start again somewhere else.

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    3. Meri's Orange Brown FaceOctober 8, 2013 at 7:22 PM

      Not to mention they Pay No Property Taxes on any of these homes.

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    4. Meri's Orange Brown FaceOctober 8, 2013 at 7:25 PM

      Just wanted to put this out there after thinking of Mariah's conversation with Kody on college.

      These homes are really expensive homes, these homes are homes that people with real jobs can afford, not people with NO real jobs plus 17 kids can afford.

      Did Kody even realize what an idiot he was to Mariah to tell her she can't afford to go to school when they just spent 2 million on homes and not one of them works a full time real job.

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    5. No environmental laws about the destruction of the rock, itself? If I lived in that school district attendance area I'd be hopping made about the very low lease.

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  3. Anon @7:39. I don't know about utah, but in many western states, property taxes are not tied to school district. I never saw that until I moved to the east coast. I know in west texas, property and property tax are dirt cheap. These huge cheap leases of government land are utilized by loads and loads of ranchers. Anyone can buy these lands for pennies an acre when they come up for sale.

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    1. I've lived in Texas my entire adult life and taxes are tied to school districts. In fact property taxes almost entirely fund school districts and tend to be very high, especially closer to the big cities and high dollar areas. I would imagine in west Texas could be different, especially since there is so much land that nobody lives on.

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  4. To be fair in everyone has the right to leave their spouse. Man or woman. And even though it is something that should have been discussed before they even bothered entering into the marriage there is some sanity in not choosing to be with someone who doesn't see the same future for their lives as the one you see. I mean if my husband wanted polygamy and I didn't, then yea I would think it might be time to go our separate ways. Let him find someone else to make unhappy.

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  5. Very interesting article.

    While I believe polygamy leads to heartache for all involved, I don't have a problem with it assuming the people aren't doing it out of fear of eternal damnation. And that's exactly why the Kodettes do it. Any Mormon who is serious about their practicing their religion has to embrace polygamy as it's what leads to the highest level of exaltation in the celestial kingdom where they become gods and get their own planet to rule over.

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    1. To be fair it it seems that the Fosters are are operating under the same premise to an extent. The truth is that 9.5 out of 10 women in in polygamy in the U.S. are there because of fear of damnation, or the enticements of rewards in the afterlife.

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    2. I totally agree with you. LDS really should be practicing polygamy. Or They should formal excommunicate Joseph Smith, Brigham Young ect. They worship these guys like they're the next best thing to God. Yet if Joseph Smith and Brigham young were alive today, they would be excommunicated and shunned by their own followers.

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    3. They believe the change was made because it was revealed they should halt the practice. That is was meant for a certain, which had passed. They would believe if either president who practiced it or not were alive they would also receive the relevation to stop.

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  6. The are leasing, giving the government money to live there. Who else would use the property? That is their property tax. There is no means test to lease land.

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  7. They are leasing the land, that is the property tax. The government is making money off them. Who else would lease school land in such a secluded area. There is no means test to lease land. Leasing just means for x years as long as the lease is renewed they have a right to occupy the land.

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    1. Plural Ants in My PantsOctober 9, 2013 at 5:35 PM

      Remember, some of us who are baffled about this cheap land and commented about it live in very high-cost, high-density housing regions where every scrap of available land is expensive. I'm here in San Francisco and one house on a small lot here could easily rent for $6,000 a month. That is why the notion of that much land renting for such a tiny sum is just hard for some of us to fathom. It's all relative. Don't think we're nuts for questioning it folks - to some of us it seems impossible to imagine land going for so cheap. Location, location, location as Mona the realtor would say...

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  8. New and beautiful location...
    Same old delusions and emotional abuses!
    Same old reasons for moving --- I am a chosen Prophet of God and so on, and so on, ad infinitum!!!

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  9. Interesting info - thanks! I thought of Mariah immediately when I read that one of this guy's wives is a physician; I wonder if Mariah knows of her and has been in touch.

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  10. The property is beautiful and picturesque...

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  11. I have been to "the rock" as it used to be called. Back then the houses were a lot simpler and just occupied the natural cave formations that were already there. It amused me that Bob Foster was preaching it as a place of refuge when the expected disasters came. He was quoting scripture about people going into the rocks to hide. The only biblical verses about that are about the wicked asking the rocks to fall on them to hide them from the judgements of God! Bob was ruling the roost there, in spite of the fact that independents acknowledge no one in authority over them. The kids who lived there were nice. I hope they got out. I thought Bob passed away a few years ago - am I wrong about that?

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    1. You're right. Every time I see stories about people making homes in rocks or in disused missile silos or deep underground military bases, I think of that scripture as well. There are many cult leaders who misrepresent the Bible.

      The fact that Bob Foster didn't keep everyone confined to his ranch gave them the freedom to think for themselves. There is a disconnect between Foster's ideas about polygamy and his attitude toward his own family. If he really believed that plural marriage was essential to salvation (especially for women), he was a persuasive teacher and his daughters would have followed his advice. The fact that most of them did not, indicates that he might not have believed that polygamy was compulsory.

      Self sufficiency and preparation for hard times were much more important to him than plural marriage. Only a generation ago, most people knew how to grow and preserve their own food. It's a very useful skill that people in cities don't often have. Mormon fundamentalists are not unique in this. LDS, Seventh Day Adventists and others also work toward self sufficiency.

      Foster passed away in 2008 and his son Enoch took over as leader. His two wives and many children live at the ranch with him. I don't know what Enoch preaches about polygamy. It's possible that he has a different view than his father.

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  12. Run, Plyglets, Run!October 9, 2013 at 9:07 PM

    These are the posts I love... new information that adds to this amazing body of knowledge of polygamy. After reading about this group I'd never heard of, I did a little webcrawl through the internets and came across this blog. I spent a large part of the day reading through this woman's experience. Now, I know we mostly discuss polygamy in F.M. cults and Fiona's experience is Muslim. Fiona's not Muslim but her husband is, although raised in a non-practicing English family. After 20+ years of marriage, children off to university, this man came home and announced to his wife that he had married another woman (girl, really, younger than his children). There are some very interesting aspects to this story. The most interesting is that Fiona, after some suffering, decided that what was good for the gander, etc, and took a second husband. The other thing I found riveting was that Fiona and her contributers are right there with all the tough questions no one ever asks the Browns, et al. Be it F.M. or Muslim polygamy, the religious teachings are very similar (intrinsically misogynistic), as of course, are the emotional effects and the abuse.Unlike fundamental Mormons, Muslims seem quite ready to acknowledge it's all about sex and power.
    There is a certain impact the posts have in that they are in real time, not in retrospect. Fiona is well educated and financially independent and yet stays in a situation that causes her great pain. She's very articulate and insightful and readily owns her anger, jealousy and frustrations.
    Worth a read, for sure.

    http://polygamy911.wordpress.com/

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    1. I'm surprised Fiona wasn't stoned to death for taking another husband.

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    2. Good link! Thanks for sharing! Boy, there is no Keep Sweet in Islam. They are pretty honest about how they feel about second wives.

      Anonymous 6:46- Perhaps because she was not Muslim she isn't held to their laws? Her 'co-wife' sounds like a piece of work, but holy cow! So does her husband!! =8-o

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  13. I apologize, this question doesn't pertain to this post, but who is Christine's grandfather? Owen or Rulon Allred?

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  14. Christine's grandfather was Rulon.

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    1. I think the reason folks get confused is because rulon is christine's paternal grandfather BUT owen is christine's mother's STEPFATHER. I think Christine has referred to owen as her grandfather; to be fair, christines mother was mainly raised with the Allred group.

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  15. Very interesting indeed. It still baffles me at just how many different Mormon polygamous communities there really are. It shouldn't, especially after all of the books I've read, but it does. And I've read almost every one mentioned on this blog. Including research, countless documentaries, "Polygamy, What love is this?" episodes, facts from this wonderful blog that I've been following since the start. And yet, after all that, I'm still amazed to be finding out how many more are out there.

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  16. I also have an off topic thought:

    Has anyone else noticed the MLM seem to be a "trend" in the polygamous communities?

    Kody and family are involved in a MLM? Elissa Wall sold "salad works" (I can't remember the name)? Also IIRC Carolyn sold "New Skin."

    I apologize for not remembering the exact names of the MLM's.

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    1. Don't you think part of the appeal of doing an MLM is that they have a LOT of relatives to hawk these goods to? Anybody who has ever sold Tupperware, Avon etc.. knows that you first sell/recruit to immediate friends and family.

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    2. I read there are a large number of MLM's that are headquartered in Utah. There are quite a few articles on the internet explaining why certain groups are more susceptible to the concept. It's fascinating.

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  17. Off topic, but yesterday I came across a history of my great, great grandmother, and I thought I'd share a brief overview of her early life. She was born in England in 1839, and when she was 17 she met some missionaries who converted her to Mormonism. In 1861, at the age of 21, she left England and travelled to Utah with the Ira Eldrege oxen team company. Being young and strong, she walked all the way across the plains. She met a man enroute whom she married 8 days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, after she had been "converted to the sacred principle of plural marriage", becoming his third wife. When he brought her home to his other wives, she was met with "hatred, and all manner of abuse." She apparently lived separate from her husband and his other wives, taking shelter in dugout, sod homes, or wherever she could find shelter. She gave birth to a son, and then two daughters who both died in infancy. Her husband did not support her financially at all and she did weaving to earn money. One time she bartered a rug she had woven in exchange for a pig. Not having the wherewithal to slaughter it by herself, she called on her husband to help her. He did, but his fee for this service was half of the pig, which he took and divided among his other wives. About six years into this marriage, a young man came to her door seeking warmth and shelter. Even though she had no windows in her home and very little firewood, she welcomed him. He was touched by her situation and returned the next day with a wagonload of wood. This man was my great great grandfather and they fell in love. When Brigham Young visited the area she was living in she asked him if she could be released from her sealing from her first husband and remarry. Young told her that if her first husband chose to release her it would be as if she never wed. The polygamist husband "did so, and gladly." She married my great great grandfather and they shared 50 years of happy, monogamist marriage. The biography includes several love poems and songs that he composed for her over the years.

    Looks like polygamy has always been a "blessing."

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    1. What a beautiful story of your family history. Your Great-Great-Grandmother was a strong woman. Gosh, life during those times was tough!
      Thank you for sharing!

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    2. Malamom, I enjoyed reading your pioneer story. The best part is how your great great grandmother managed to get out of polygamy. Even back then the women weren't treated very well. What an interesting history story.

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    3. Fascinating family history Malamom and how fortunate your GGGrandmother spent 50 years being appreciated by her husband.

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    4. Yes.. polygamy always seems to be such a "blessing". The Browns and others keep telling us that it is so wonderful and that they are being painted with a broad brush and their situations are somehow different from those living in certain polygamist communities. However, I have yet to see one family where (through my lens of a modern woman) the wives are free to have their own opinions, are happy and truly not jealous of their sisterwives. All the men seem to be controlling and egotistical and would not last for a minute with a truly independent wife who felt comfortable speaking her mind. It doesn't seem to matter if it's a story recounted generations later (like Malamom's), communities that are in compounds, or TV polygamists who are supposedly "different" from the rest. To me it all seems the same -- husband gets all the benefits and power and makes all the decisions and wives submit. Case in point -- Kody said it was Meri's decision if she wanted to pursue having more children, but Kody said no. There also seems to be an over-reliance on get rich quick schemes and not so much real work going on. So many of the children are living in poverty or not getting the resources they are due. The Dargers, Browns, and Williams all seem to have difficulty maintaining their enormous families. Of course, Kody would probably claim that I'm a feminist and therefore against his wonderful way of life. I don't think someone has to be a feminist to male-basher to see how uneven the polygamist relationship is.

      So glad Malamom's great, great grandmother was able to escape from what would have probably been decades of unhappiness and neglect for her and her children.

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    5. Malamom, thank you so much for sharing that story. I wish we could read all the private journals of early Mormon women and their experiences with polygamy. It would give a much truer picture of what polygamy really is. If you ever decide to publish your great great grandmother's story, let us know. I, for one, would definitely buy it.

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  18. WOW.... At first I thought the house looked really cool. After reading this I'm kind a creeped out!!!!

    dj

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  19. This is beautiful property. Aside from the polygamy which I don't even want to go into; I didn't like that he required a six-month trial period for potential inhabitants. That seems like it opens the door for very selective and possibly discriminant choices. It is like he is creating his own state with in a state. While on the surface it seems like a nice little oasis, once someone has put themselves at the top, and there aren't checks and balances, it can turn into a place like the FLDS.

    Not saying that it is or want to make assumptions. However, I'm sure a lot of people start off with polygamy and all the stuff that goes with it having good intentions. Over time though, it doesn't remain like that. I wonder what happens when people leave. Are they required to cut off all contact with everyone who stayed behind? If a "wife" leaves are her children allowed to come back to play with their siblings every once in a while?

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    1. That's the issue with all of these groups, not only FM. We had David Koresh, Jim Jones, Rajneesh, Muktananda... all started off as leaders and eventually the power (or weed) got to their heads, their closest advisors started feeding their paranoia and they started to believe their own propaganda.

      In the Foster group, it looks like three of his wives left. The first wife divorced him. The other two got qualifications and work in the cities. I don't know what became of the first wife, but from what I have read, the other two are still considered part of the family. They haven't been shunned.

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  20. Do LDS women live in fear of their husbands getting the polygamy bug and abandoning them if they don't go along? Does the LDS church have charities to help such women that get abandoned?

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    1. No, LDS women do not live in fear of their husbands practicing polygamy because members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) do NOT practice polygamy in any way, shape, or form. These polygamist groups have no affiliation whatsoever with the LDS church. I am a member of the LDS church. I am not aware of any LDS-sponsored charities to help abandoned women, but like other Christian churches, we offer love and service and help to anyone in need.

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    2. Thanks to all LDS who come on here and fill in the gaps for us. We are learning a LOT from you guys. Please keep it up.

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    3. A blogger, Ask Mormon Girl, had a really good post (maybe a year ago?) about polygamy and explained how official church doctrine is that polygamy may be practiced in the afterlife but that was not her particular stance. I read all the comments on that post at the time (many from mormons) who stated that they would be okay with their husbands taking on more wives in heaven...and some mormons who were NOT okay with it.

      Anyway, the LDS church doesnt' condone polygamy now since it's against the law in the US but they certainly approve of it in the afterlife.

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    4. I thought you had to live polygamy in heaven?

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  21. LDS had a welfare entity that helps any member. And they help nonmembers.

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  22. Hey Anon 5:41 I heard that if one was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as a member you can only be friends with members. This also means if a family member leaves the church or you convert you have nothing to do with you family. This was someone I worked with a few years back. I was just wondering if that is a common practice or on at all? Thanks

    dj

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  23. Lds do NOT shun family when they join or members leave. You are thinking Scientology. LDS can and are friends with nonLDS. They are still family to nonmembers.

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  24. Anonymous @ 10:27, LDS members have friends in and outside of the church. They also interact with their families whether they're members of the church or not - at least the ones I'm familiar with do.

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  25. Something interesting: I was just in a hotel in Indianapolis, IN and they had the Gideon Bible AND the Book of Mormon in the room. I nearly took the BOM, just so I could use it as a reference book.

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    1. The Marriot guy is a Mormon so all of the Marriot chains have a Book of Mormon in them. I've seen it too. (Marriot, Courtyard, Springhill Suites, etc)

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    2. What would happen if all of us on SW Blog requested our public libraries purchase some of the books that Mister Sister has turned us on to (right hand column)? Our library generally buys just about anything you request to add to its collection. Just a thought for educating the public and helping some of those who got out of polygamy get some books sold.

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    3. Great idea Anon 1:25am!

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  26. The library would have a copy. Also you could probably look up scriptures online.

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  27. Meggie you can get a Book of Mormon mailed to you for free just google it.

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  28. I am an LDS convert. Absolutely my family and personal relations are the same as before I became a member of the church. I live by the LDS standards, and my friends and family still accept me the same as before, and vice versa. @meggiedarlin all Marriott hotels have BOMs in them. I'm not positive, but I think the Marriott family are LDS.

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  29. They are LDS. And as all LDS monogamous.

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  30. Is the expression about painting them with a broad brush some sort of fundamentalist mormon code or reference from the book of mormon or other writings? Seems like eeryone in polygamy likes to use that specific term.

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    1. Non Mormon reference Anon 10:16pm. It's just an indication of limited education - one hears the phrase used and then they all adopt it.

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  31. We miss u missy sissy. Hope to hear from u soon. It's like my great blog is gone. I don't comment much. I do love reading it every day

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  32. Interesting Article. what this shows to me is that this is a cult. not a religion.

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  33. I never knew there were so many that practiced polygamy in the US. Very bothered that it's a law and they don't get arrested. Does that mean we can all do what we want in the name of religion? I don't think so!

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  34. So does the state take back the land later?

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