Nancy Davis Dutton (mother) Cindy Dutton Price (sister) Ted Price (brother-in-law) Joseph Price (nephew) Jennifer Price (niece) Kim Lee (adopted niece) Ned Johanssen (stepfather)
Barbara "Barb" Dutton Henrickson is a character on HBO's Big Love portrayed by Jeanne Tripplehorn. Barb is the first wife of Bill Henrickson. Barb was raised in a traditional Mormon family, outside polygamy. Bill and Barb met while in college, and married soon afterward. Together, they had three children. Barb almost died of uterine cancer after the birth of Tancy "Teeny" Henrickson, the youngest of Barb's children, right before Bill married his second wife Nicolette "Nicki" Grant and later, his third wife Margene Heffman.
Biography
Barb grew up in a traditional, non-polygamous LDS family. Her parents were Rockefeller Republicans, and her mother campaigned for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. Barb's mother and sister disowned her because she followed Bill into polygamy; her sister is shown as the modern, one-husband wife, raising her three children, and holding down a job and good status in the local community. However, repeated references are made to Barb's mother "not being ready" to meet with Barb at the time of the first season of the show, presumably because of her disapproval of the plural marriage her daughter has entered into. Barb substitute teaches first grade and seems to be the wife with the "cooler" head. However, she is occasionally seen engaging in pagophagia during stressful situations. She has a close relationship with her youngest wife Margene Heffman, who looks up to her as the head sister-wife.
Both Nicki and Margie look up to Barb as not only a big sister, but also as a mother/authority figure. For example, when Nicki pits herself against Margie, they both scramble to get Barb's attention and wisdom to solve the conflict, most prominently seen in the episode 'Good Guys and Bad Guys'. In this argument, Nicki has commandeered Margene's mother away from Margene, and when they find out Barb is on the phone, they both fight over the line to tell Barb their side of the story. Barb, though she's closest to Margie, is often paranoid about the youngest wife's relationship with the teenaged Henrickson children. Margie, being scarcely out of teenhood herself, has a close friendship with Ben and Sarah, causing Barb to be both jealous and scared of Margie at the same time. Barb eventually confronts Margie about her relationship with Ben, saying that it is "inappropriate", referencing the obvious one-sided attraction Ben has for his third mother.
An important theme of Season Two is Barb's realization that the polygamous religion that she is involved in is unsatisfactory in many ways; she sees conflict break out between the polygamous compounds, and observes the abusive behavior of other polygamous units (Bill's parents and Roman and his many wives). She also begins to realize that, despite she, Nicki, and Margene being off the compound, their situation is still similar to that of those women who are fighting within the compound. She also fears that her only son Ben Henrickson believes in polygamy and asks her mother to take him and introduce him to non-polygamist Mormons, hoping to erase his interest in plural marriage.
Because Margene wants to be a surrogate mother for Pam, Margene's friend and neighbor, Barb "outs' the family as polygamous to her so that the subject will no longer be in question. She also tells Bill that she rejects the idea of ever having a fourth wife, and to appease her, he offers her a board membership in his new company, Weber Gaming.
In Season 3 Barb discovers that her sister Cindy and her husband Ted have been plotting against her and Bill by supporting a Utah legislation in the works banning gambling and to suppress letters from the first Mormon leaders proving that polygamy was never intended to be abolished (these letters were later proven to be fake). She also supports Bill's dating of Ana, the waitress from Season 2, even going as far as to ask for a formal dating process, and explaining the basic beliefs of plural marriage to her. As the season progresses, Ana is seen by Bill and Barb cavorting with an ex-lover, but is later forgiven by all and subsequently marries into the family. Barb insists that Ana live with her and tells Margene and Nikki that Ana is more like a friend than a sister-wife and it is a great comfort to her. That same episode, Ana tells the family she made a mistake and divorces them. In Episode 30 the family takes a cross-country trip to discover their Mormon roots at Hill Cumorah, NY at Bill's urging. Barb discovers Nicki's birth control pack in the motel bathroom but she assumes they are Sarah's, not knowing her oldest daughter is already pregnant. When Sarah later miscarries, Barb (along with the rest of the family) is shocked, but rally to support her. Later in the season, Barb is shown struggling with her possible excommunication from the church and turns to her mother and sister for their help in sponsoring her in a sacrament ceremony. The family accepts her plea and Barb takes part in the ceremony. In the last episode of the season, Barb is questioned by the leaders of her local church and they request her to renounce polygamy. When she refuses, she is excommunicated. In response, Bill claims the keys to the kingdom of heaven and decides to found a new church for his family and other progressive polygamists.
Season Four sees Barb taking a leadership role at the casino that the family has opened on a Blackfoot Indian reservation, but coming into conflict with Native American customs and culture. She at first opposes daughter Sarah's choice of a secular Justice of the Peace marriage, worried that she and her husband will not reunite in eternity. At the end of season four, Barb explains to Bill that she wants a change in lifestyle and she wants a divorce but, reluctantly stands by Bill when he announces to the world that they're polygamists.
The show's fifth and final season sees Barb going through a spiritual awakening which leads her to, amongst other things, develop an interest in the priesthood. Bill flatly rejects the idea that women can hold the priesthood, initiating a rift between Barb and her spouses (Nicki sharing Bill's view and Margie siding with them). Barb seeks out Mormon and non-Mormon feminist scholars to support her, causing her mother and sister to express their concern over her new theological ideas. Events come to a head when Barb decides to be baptized in a Latter Day Saint denomination that allows women to hold the priesthood but rejects polygamy. Barb ultimately decides to return to her family and their own church. At the end of the series, as Bill lies dying on the street, he sees a halo around Barb and asks her to bless him as he dies. A flash forward in the series's closing moments reveals that Barb is now the leader of the only Mormon fundamentalist church that practices both polygamy and female priesthood.
Polygamy was practiced 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 by between 20 and 30 percent of Latter-day Saint families.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a religious sect of the fundamentalist Mormon denominations whose members practice polygamy. It is estimated that 6,000 to 10,000 members reside within the congregate sister cities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona(raided); Eldorado, Texas(raided); Westcliffe, Colorado; Mancos, Colorado; Creston and Bountiful, British Columbia(sold); and Pringle, South Dakota(sold).
Mormon fundamentalism is a belief in the validity of selected fundamental aspects of Mormonism as taught and practiced in the nineteenth century, particularly during the administrations of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John Taylor, the first three presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormon fundamentalists seek to uphold tenets and practices no longer held by mainstream Mormons. The principle most often associated with Mormon fundamentalism is plural marriage, a form of polygyny first taught in the Latter Day Saint movement by the movement's founder, Smith. A second and closely associated principle is that of the United Order, a form of egalitarian communalism. Mormon fundamentalists believe that these and other principles were wrongly abandoned or changed by the LDS Church in its efforts to become reconciled with mainstream American society. Today, the LDS Church excommunicates any of its members who practice plural marriage or who otherwise closely associate themselves with Mormon fundamentalist practices.
The Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) is a Mormon fundamentalist group that practices polygamy. The AUB has had a temple in Mexico, since at least the 1990s, an endowment house in Utah since the early 1980s and several other locations of worship to accommodate their members in Wyoming, Arizona, and Montana.
Big Love is an American drama television series that aired on HBO from March 12, 2006, to March 20, 2011. It stars Bill Paxton as the patriarch of a fundamentalist Mormon family in contemporary Utah that practices polygamy, with Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny, and Ginnifer Goodwin portraying his wives. The series charts the family's life in and out of the public sphere in their Salt Lake City suburb, as well as their associations with a fundamentalist compound in the area. It features key supporting performances from Amanda Seyfried, Grace Zabriskie, Daveigh Chase, Matt Ross, Mary Kay Place, Bruce Dern, Melora Walters, and Harry Dean Stanton.
William Orville "Bill" Henrickson is a fictional character in the HBO series Big Love, portrayed by Bill Paxton. The protagonist of the series, he is the head of a polygamous family. He is married to three wives, Barbara Henrickson, Nicolette Grant and Margene Heffman. He has fathered nine children with these three women, and a tenth child with Ana.
Nicolette Eugenia "Nicki" Grant is a character in Big Love, an HBO television series set among contemporary polygamists in Utah. The role is played by Chloë Sevigny. The show focuses on the family of Bill Henrickson; Nicki is the second of Henrickson's three wives, and the mother of three of his children: Cara Lynn, Wayne, and Raymond.
Albert "Alby" Grant, played by Matt Ross, is a fictional character from the HBO series Big Love. The character is loosely based on the real life polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.
Owen Arthur Allred was the leader of the Apostolic United Brethren, a Mormon fundamentalist polygamist group centered in Bluffdale, Utah. He came to this position following the murder of his brother Rulon Allred on orders of rival polygamist leader Ervil LeBaron, in 1977.
Roman Grant is a fictional character in the HBO series, Big Love, and is portrayed by Harry Dean Stanton. He was the prophet of the Juniper Creek Compound, and is the father of Nicolette Grant and Alby Grant. The character is loosely based on the real life polygamist leader Rulon Jeffs.
Benjamin "Ben" Henrickson is a character on the HBO series Big Love. He is portrayed by Douglas Smith. Ben is the second child and oldest son of Bill Henrickson with his first and once legal wife, Barbara Henrickson. As of "The Lost Boys", he is 17 years old. He becomes a priesthood holder in season 2.
Polygamy is the practice of having more than one spouse at the same time. Specifically, polygyny is the practice of one man taking more than one wife while polyandry is the practice of one woman taking more than one husband. Polygamy is a common marriage pattern in some parts of the world. In North America, polygamy has not been a culturally normative or legally recognized institution since the continent's colonization by Europeans.
Possibly as early as the 1830s, followers of the Latter Day Saint movement, were practicing the doctrine of polygamy or "plural marriage". After the death of church founder Joseph Smith, the doctrine was officially announced in Utah Territory in 1852 by Mormon leader Brigham Young. The practice was attributed posthumously to Smith and it began among Mormons at large, principally in Utah where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had relocated after the Illinois Mormon War.
Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, privately taught and practiced polygamy. After Smith's death in 1844, the church he established splintered into several competing groups. Disagreement over Smith's doctrine of "plural marriage" has been among the primary reasons for multiple church schisms.
Sarah Elizabeth Henrickson is a character on the HBO series Big Love. She is portrayed by Amanda Seyfried. Sarah is the eldest child of Bill Henrickson with his first and legal wife Barbara Henrickson. Though only a supporting character in the first two seasons, Sarah became popular in the show in its third season until actress Amanda Seyfried decided to depart the show to focus on her movie career at the end of season four. She returned in the series finale in the last scene.
Irene Spencer was an American author and a widow of Verlan LeBaron, brother of former prophet Joel LeBaron of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times, a fundamentalist Mormon offshoot.
Sister Wives is an American reality television series broadcast on TLC that premiered on September 26, 2010. The show documents the life of a polygamist family, which includes Kody Brown, his wife Robyn, ex-wives, and their 18 children. The family began the series living in Lehi, Utah, moved to Las Vegas in 2011, and to Flagstaff, Arizona, in mid-2018.
Margene "Margie" Heffman is a character on Big Love, the fictional HBO television series set among contemporary polygamists in Utah. The role is played by Ginnifer Goodwin. The show focuses on the family of Bill Henrickson; Margene is the third of Henrickson's three wives, and the mother of three of Henrickson's children: Aaron, Lester, and Nell.
Anne B. Wilde is an American author and advocate on behalf of fundamentalist Mormon polygamists. She is a co-founder of Principle Voices, a group whose purpose is to counter anti-polygamy messages, build bridges between fundamentalist Mormon groups and outside communities, and for the decriminalization of polygamy.
Annie Clark Tanner was born on September 24, 1864, in Farmington, Utah and died in 1941. She was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a plural wife, a mother, and an author. Tanner was an author of A Mormon Mother, an autobiography that explains her decision to engage in polygamy and her development from that experience.
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![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolette Grant</span> A main character on HBOs [[Big Love]]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Big-love-chloe-sevigny6.jpg)
