The FLDS congregations in Canada and the United States fractured during a fight over the succession to FLDS prophet Rulon Jeffs, who died on Sept. 8, 2002.
Winston Blackmore, the bishop of Bountiful, B.C., from 1984, lost the battle to Mr. Jeffs's son, Warren, and was eventually expelled from the church. Several members in Bountiful stuck with Mr. Blackmore, who continues to uphold the religious practices, while many remain with Warren Jeffs.
Mr. Jeffs consolidated his power by reassigning celestial wives and their children to new husbands, saying their current ones were not worthy. Many of the men had challenged Mr. Jeffs's authority.
In January, 2004, a newsletter published by Mr. Blackmore said that Dan Barlow, mayor of Colorado City, Ariz., for 19 years, and 20 others were excommunicated from the FLDS church. Local FLDS members were told not to have anything more to do with their unbelieving family members.
The newsletter, called the North Star, listed several other prominent FLDS members who were now castoffs. Ross Chatwin held a news conference in an effort to not get kicked out of his house. Richard Holm's wives were taken away from him and married to his brother Ed, their seven children going with them.
The shuffling of families continued the following month. “Many more excommunications happening in the South. Ethnic cleansing. If someone wants your family, you get cleansed,” the newsletter stated.
The religious sect also continued to believe the apocalypse was imminent. The newsletter stated in March, 2004, that “another deadline for the end of the world has come and gone, being in excess of some 15 deadlines that have passed.”
A FLDS member named Albert Counsil was the latest to lose his family, the newsletter stated in June, 2004. Mr. Counsil was told to leave because it was decided that he did not support the “most holy prophet.” Mr. Counsil did not choose to go. “So they gathered up his family and took them from him,” the newsletter said.
