Joel LeBaron

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Joel Franklin LeBaron (9 June 1923 – 20 August 1972) was a leader in the Mormon fundamentalist movement in northern Mexico. He was murdered by a member of a rival church which was headed by his brother Ervil LeBaron.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Church leadership 3 Murder 4 References

[edit] Early life

LeBaron was born in La Verkin, Utah, the eighth of 13 children born to Alma Dayer LeBaron and Maude Lucinda McDonald. At the time of Joel's birth, the LeBaron family were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Joel was baptized into the LDS Church in 1931 in Colonia Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, where the LeBarons had moved to when Joel was an infant.

Beginning in 1936, the LeBaron family became close to Joseph White Musser, a leader of the young Mormon fundamentalist movement in Mexico. In 1944, the family was excommunicated from the LDS Church for teaching and practicing plural marriage. For the next 11 years, the family were members of Rulon C. Allred's Apostolic United Brethren.

[edit] Church leadership

Main article: Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times

In 1955, Joel LeBaron and two of his brothers established the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times in Salt Lake City, Utah with Joel as President of the Church. Upon returning to northern Mexico, their parents and most of the members of the LeBaron family joined the new church. In 1967, Joel's brother Ervil LeBaron was removed from leadership in the church when he began to preach that he, and not Joel, was the proper leader of the church.

[edit] Murder

In 1972, Ervil LeBaron established the rival Church of the Lamb of God and began teaching his followers that in accordance with the doctrine of blood atonement, Joel had to be executed for his sins. On 20 August 1972, in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, one of Ervil's followers shot Joel LeBaron in the head. Ervil was tried and convicted in Mexico for Joel's murder, but the conviction was overturned. Ervil LeBaron was eventually convicted in Utah for ordering the killing of rival Mormon fundamentalist leader Rulon C. Allred. Joel LeBaron was succeeded as president of the church by his brother Verlan.

[edit] References

• Janet Bennion (2004). Desert Patriarchy: Mormon and Mennonite Communities in the Chihuahua Valley (Tuscon: University of Arizona Press) ISBN 0816523347
• Ben Bradlee (1981). Prophet of Blood: The Untold Story of Ervil Lebaron and the Lambs of God (New York: Putnam)
• Brian C. Hales (2006). Mordern Polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism: The Generations After the Manifesto (Salt Lake City, Utah: Greg Kofford Books) ISBN 1589580350
• D. Michael Quinn, "Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 31, no. 2 (Summer 1998) pp. 1–68 at pp. 16–18, 23
• Steven L. Shields (1990, 4th ed.). Divergent Paths of the Restoration (Independence, Mo.: Herald House) ISBN 0942284135
• Lyle O. Wright (1963). "Origins and Development of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times." (M.S. thesis: Brigham Young University)

v • d • e Leaders in the Mormon fundamentalist movement Recognized Mormon leaders1 Joseph Smith, Jr. • Brigham Young • John Taylor Disputed Mormon leaders2 Wilford Woodruff • Lorenzo Snow • Joseph F. Smith Early Mormon fundamentalist leaders John W. Woolley • Lorin C. Woolley • J. Leslie Broadbent • John Y. Barlow • Joseph White Musser • Charles Zitting Leaders of the FLDS Church Leroy S. Johnson • Rulon Jeffs • Warren Jeffs Leaders of the AUB Rulon C. Allred • Owen A. Allred • J. LaMoine Jenson Leaders of the Kingston Clan Charles W. Kingston • Elden Kingston • John Ortell Kingston • Paul Elden Kingston Leaders of the ULDC George Woolley Smith • Heber Gerald Smith • Steven H. Tucker Independents and other leaders Joel LeBaron • Ervil LeBaron • Alex Joseph • Tom Green • James D. Harmston • John W. Bryant Notes 1. Mormon leaders prior to the start of the fundamentalist movement and recognized by most fundamentalists as legitimate church leaders. 2. Mormon leaders that made changes to church policies on plural marriage. Fundamentalists hold a variety of views about each of these leaders, varying from the view that all were legitimate leaders to the view that all were illegitimate.