- Joel LeBaron
Joel Franklin LeBaron (
9 June 1923 –20 August 1972 ) was a leader in the Mormon fundamentalist movement in northernMexico . He was murdered by a member of a rival church which was headed by his brotherErvil LeBaron .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 ofThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Joel was baptized into the LDS Church in 1931 in city-state|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 youngMormon fundamentalist movement in Mexico. In 1944, the family was excommunicated from the LDS Church for teaching and practicingplural marriage . For the next 11 years, the family were members ofRulon C. Allred 'sApostolic United Brethren .Church leadership
In 1955, Joel LeBaron and two of his brothers established the
Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times inSalt Lake City, Utah with Joel asPresident 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 brotherErvil 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.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 ofblood atonement , Joel had to be executed for his sins. On20 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 leaderRulon C. Allred . Joel LeBaron was succeeded as president of the church by his brother Verlan.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", "", 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)
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