Life
Paul Elden Kingston was born in 1959 as a son of John Ortell Kingston and LaDonna Peterson. His father had 13 wives and dozens of children. [3]
Kingston studied at the University of Utah Law School and was admitted to the Utah State Bar in 1990. [4]
He succeeded his father John Ortell Kingston as the Trustee-in-Trust (Leader) of the DCCS upon his father's death in 1987. During his tenure,members have continued the practice of plural,and intra-family marriage. [5] He and his full-siblings,six full-brothers including David Ortell Kingston and John Daniel Kingston as well as two full-sisters,are said to be the inner circle running the group. [3]
Teenage marriages
According to the group plural marriages for individuals under 18 in the group are not allowed. According to themselves the DCCS has a policy encouraging its members to marry within the legal age of consent. [6]
In search of public records the Salt Lake Tribune has found 20 marriages among members of the group between 1997 and 2018 in which both bride and groom were at least 18,but also found 65 marriages in which the bride was 15,16 or 17. While according to former members dozens or hundreds more marriage certificates might be at county clerk offices across the west,most marriages are said to happen outside the law meaning that there is no legal but only a spiritual wedding.
Records show he signed as a witness on 4 lawful teenage marriages that happened in Colorado where marriages between first cousins are legal. [7]
Wives and children
He is practicing polygamy accruing at least 27 wives and fathering more than 300 children. Three of his wives are his half-sisters,two are his nieces and one is a first cousin. [8] [9] [10]
In 2025 one of his granddaughters filed a lawsuit against the group claiming she was pressured to marry her uncle (who is also her cousin) Daniel C. Kingston,a son of Paul Elden Kingston,as his third wife when she was 16 and he was 19. There are photos of the ceremony. According to the lawsuit she was forced to choose between three of her uncles with Daniel C. Kingston being the youngest of them. [11] [12]
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