Two Many Wives

A few months after organizing, a sensational case catapulted the group's cause into the spotlight. A 16-year-old girl from the Kingston clan told authorities she was beaten by her father, Daniel Kingston, after running away from a polygamous marriage to her uncle. Tapestry leaders were interviewed and quoted throughout the state, accusing the clans of regularly forcing teen-age girls into marriage and drumming up public sentiment against polygamy. Their charges helped fuel the state Legislature's decision last year to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 and to hire a full-time investigator. The group also lobbied heavily for the child-bride bill.

Tapestry members say the Kingston case -- Daniel ultimately was convicted of felony child abuse -- is just the tip of the iceberg. They cite examples of other women forced to wed cousins or uncles and clans that regularly marry off teen-age girls to men old enough to be their grandfathers. According to state Sen. Ron Allen, author of the child-bride bill, the problem is rife in polygamous communities -- he has turned over a list of 108 girls married off to older men to state and local law enforcement. "This policy of ignoring it for the past 100 years is not going to solve it," the Democratic lawmaker told the Deseret News. "It is not solving the problem of these poor children who need our help."

Tapestry leaders contend that incest also is rampant within polygamy. After generations of living in closed societies, many of the followers are related, making it difficult to marry someone who doesn't share a bloodline. Sometimes, the incest goes a step further. Leaders of Tapestry say women are being married to their fathers. One woman claims she and her sisters were raped for years by her father. Another asserts that as a 12-year-old, she was passed around among church leaders for sex.

Plural wives concur with some of the claims, but other charges leave them sputtering in disbelief. They question the memories and motives of some former wives, suggesting they have an ax to grind. They accuse Tapestry members of weaving increasingly outrageous tales of abuse to keep public opinion on its side and to encourage grant giving. They note that Tapestry members rely on controversial techniques such as hypnotherapy to tease out repressed memories. "These repressed memories may not have actually existed," says Marianne Watson, whose family has practiced polygamy since the 1840s. "You really have to highly question their methods."

The most notorious example of polygamy may be the Colorado City clan, where 92-year-old clan patriarch Rulon Jeffs is estimated to have at least 60 wives, some as young as 18 or 19 years old. Because Jeffs suffers from Parkinson's disease, the clan is run by his son Warren.

LuAnn Fischer, a Colorado City clan member excommunicated in September, says Warren Jeffs began assigning dozens of young wives to his father about 10 years ago as a way of preventing them from marrying other men. When his father dies, the younger Jeffs can then marry them off in exchange for leverage, money or favors. "The best-looking, smartest girls marry Rulon," says Fischer, who is writing a book about her life in the clan. "Warren is going to barter them off when Rulon dies." The elderly Jeffs isn't consummating these marriages, however. "They call his home `the nunnery,'" says Fischer.