Dorothy Allred Solomon is an American author and educator committed to informing people about the pros and cons of polygamous lifestyles.
Dorothy Allred was born to Mormon fundamentalist leader Rulon C. Allred [1] and his fourth plural wife. [2] She was the 28th of her father's 48 children [3] [4] . In 1977, her father was murdered by agents of violent polygamist leader Ervil LeBaron [5] .
In her memoirs, Allred is open about and critical of the many problems posed by polygamy as practiced by fundamentalist Mormon sects. [6] These problems include the secrecy that necessitated lying to friends and neighbors about their father, constant poverty, jealousy among wives and siblings, an inability to have an emotionally healthy father-child relationship, sexual repression, violent schisms both from internal and external rivals to leadership, and other issues rarely encountered in monogamy [7] . In the same memoirs, she makes very clear that she had great love and respect for her father, a complex man who was as honorable as his patriarchal position allowed and whose sincerity of belief she never doubted. [8]
As a teenager, Dorothy Allred broke with her father's group, the Apostolic United Brethren, and became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which officially renounced polygamy in 1890. She entered into a monogamous marriage and was educated at the University of Utah. [9] Unlike the experience of many apostates from polygamous communities and sects, she did continue a relationship with her parents and many members of her extended family, who continued to accept her as their daughter despite their disappointment that she did not continue the practice of plural marriage. [10]
Solomon was the first contemporary writer to give an insider account of modern-day polygamy. [11] She is the author of five books, including two that describe aspects of her life growing up in fundamentalist Mormon polygamy. She is active in Utah's movement to educate people about polygamy. She has been a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show , the Today Show , Larry King Live , Hannity & Colmes , and other talk and news programs.
Solomon lives with her husband in Saint George, Utah.
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 variously defined as a cult, a sect, or a new religious movement.
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.
Warren Steed Jeffs is an American religious-cult leader and felon, convicted of several sex crimes and two assisted sex crimes involving children. He is the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous cult. In 2011, he was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault, for which he is serving a life sentence.
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 the US States of Wyoming, Arizona, and Montana.
Flora Jessop is an American social activist, author, and advocate for abused children.
Ervil Morrell LeBaron was the leader of a polygamous Mormon fundamentalist group who ordered the killings of many of his opponents, both within his own sect and in rival polygamous groups, using the religious doctrine of blood atonement to justify the murders. He was sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating the murder of an opponent, and died there in 1981.
Rulon Clark Allred was an American homeopath and chiropractor in Salt Lake City and the leader of what is now the Apostolic United Brethren, a breakaway sect of polygamous Mormon fundamentalists in Utah, Colorado, and Arizona, United States. He was murdered on the orders of Ervil LeBaron, the head of a rival polygamous sect.
The Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as The Righteous Branch, The Branch Church, The Peterson Group and Christ's Church, is a fundamentalist Mormon sect of the Latter Day Saint movement. It is based in Iron County, Utah.
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.
Alex Joseph was an American outspoken polygamist and founder of the Confederate Nations of Israel, a Mormon fundamentalist sect. As mayor of Big Water, Utah, Joseph was the first Libertarian Party mayor of a community in the United States.
Carolyn Jessop is an American author and former Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member who wrote Escape, an autobiographical account of her upbringing in the polygamist sect and later flight from that community. She is the cousin, by marriage, of Flora Jessop, another former FLDS member and advocate for abused children. Carolyn Jessop now lives in the Salt Lake City area with her children.
The Church of the Firstborn 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.
Joel Franklin LeBaron was a Mormon fundamentalist leader in northern Mexico. He was murdered by a member or members of a rival church which was headed by his brother Ervil LeBaron.
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.
Alma Adelbert "Del" Timpson, was an American Mormon fundamentalist leader. He was involved with a number of Mormon denominations, including the mainstream LDS Church, followed by the Council of Friends, and eventually heading the Centennial Park group, a fundamentalist sect headquartered in Centennial Park, Arizona. In each denomination, he held positions of importance within the priesthood and leadership structures.
Rena Chynoweth is an American former Mormon fundamentalist who shot Rulon C. Allred dead in 1977. Acquitted of murder in a criminal trial, Chynoweth later admitted to killing Allred.
The Council of Friends was one of the original expressions of Mormon fundamentalism, having its origins in the teachings of Lorin C. Woolley, a courier and bodyguard for polygamous leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who was excommunicated in 1924.
William Heber LeBaron is a convicted murderer who once led the cult Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God.