Paul Elden Kingston

Paul Elden Kingston
Trustee-in-Trust of the Davis County Cooperative Society
Incumbent
Assumed office
August 25, 1987
Preceded byJohn Ortell Kingston
Personal details
Born (1959-12-17) 17 December 1959 (age 64)
Utah, United States
SpousesAt least 27
Children300+
ParentJohn Ortell Kingston

Paul Elden Kingston (born 17 December 1959) is an accountant and attorney who has served as the Trustee-in-Trust of the Davis County Cooperative Society (DCCS), a Mormon fundamentalist denomination,[1][2] since 1987. The DCCS is a financial cooperative established by his uncle Elden Kingston in 1935.

Kingston studied at the University of Utah Law School and was admitted to the Utah State Bar in 1990.[3]

Kingston succeeded his father John Ortell Kingston as the Trustee-in-Trust of the DCCS upon his father's death in 1987. During his tenure, some members have continued the practice of plural, and intra-family marriage,[4] although neither is practiced by the majority of members and the practice is not required to gain status in the group.[5]

Plural marriage is practiced by some members of the DCCS, and members make their own choice in who they marry.[5] Plural marriages for individuals under 18 in the group are not allowed. For more than a decade, the group has publicly spoken out against child-bride marriages and the DCCS has a policy encouraging its members to marry within the legal age of consent.[6][7][8][9] Members generally seek the blessing of parents and religious leaders before choosing to marry. Many consider Kingston the top man in the group.[10]

Records show he signed as a witness on 4 lawful teenage marriages over a 20 year period. There are thousands of members in the group.[10]

He is believed to have practiced polygamy in the past, potentially accruing as many as 40 wives and fathering up to 300 children.[11][12]

  1. ^ "United by fundamentalist Mormon beliefs, one polygamous group helps another by bringing truckloads of food". The Salt Lake Tribune. 2017-07-26. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  2. ^ Hales, Brian C. "John Ortell Kingston". Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  3. ^ "Paul Kingston : UTAH Bar". services.utahbar.org. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  4. ^ Janofsky, Michael (February 27, 2003), "Young Brides Stir New Outcry on Utah Polygamy", The New York Times, retrieved 2013-09-10 Late Edition - Final Section A, page 1, column 2
  5. ^ a b Foster, Craig (2019). American Polygamy; A History of Fundamentalist Mormon Faith. Charleston, SC: The History Press. pp. 197, 198. ISBN 978-1-4671-3752-2.
  6. ^ "Shurtleff: Child bride polygamous marriages appear to have stopped". KSL.com. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  7. ^ "DCCS - FAQ". www.dccsociety.org. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  8. ^ "Polygamists are urged to make public statement". Deseret News. 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  9. ^ "No longer performing child-bride marriages?". Deseret News. 2007-09-09. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  10. ^ a b "Girls in polygamous Kingston Group continue to marry as young as 15, records show, sometimes leaving Utah to marry cousins". The Salt Lake Tribune. 2018-08-04. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  11. ^ Bennion, Janet (2012). Polygamy in Primetime. ISBN 9781611682960. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
  12. ^ "Inside 'The Order,' One Mormon Cult's Secret Empire". Rolling Stone. 15 June 2011. Retrieved 2021-05-22.