Roman Grant - Family

Family

Grant, a polygamist, has 14 wives and is betrothed to 15-year-old Rhonda Volmer, a union he claims was directed by a divine revelation. His sixth wife is Adaleen Grant, who is his administrative assistant and who has the prestige and responsibilities usually afforded a first wife. Roman has 31 children (18 sons and 13 daughters) ranging in age from a 59-year-old son named Homer (never seen on the series, but his name appeared on a list in one episode) to an infant named Emory. Unlike the children of most polygamists in the series, all of Roman's seem to go by the surname Grant, for he is openly polygamous. Most important to the series are Adaleen's children: daughter Nicolette, the plural wife of Bill Henrickson; and son Alby Grant, who is his father's heir-apparent. At least 4 of Grant's children are out of favor: Nicki makes references to 2 brothers who are "in exile"; and, during a second-season episode when Nicki attempts to visit her mother while her father is hospitalized, the guards at the Compound entrance display a list of Grant's children, most of them in the "Good", but Nicki and 4 others in the "Bad" category. In one episode Grant stated he has 187 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Grant is not the least bit ashamed of being polygamous and appears on television defending his lifestyle and his sect. He is suspected of outing the Henrickson family as polygamists. He shares a rambling stately old home known as "The Big House", previously the home of Orville Henrickson, with several of his wives. (In an episode about Nicki's credit-card bills, it was revealed that "The Big House" was recently enlarged to include an additional wing for Rhonda funded completely by his wife Adaleen's credit card.)

Grant seems to be a caring father in spite of the immensity of his family. His daughter Nicki was genuinely thrilled to learn he was coming to her son's birthday party, and he was extremely concerned over the attempted murder of his son Alby. In another episode, Bill witnessed him holding his infant son.

Though he is almost 80 years old and this may account for some of his diminished interest in sex, Grant does not appear to be particularly lecherous. Even his relationship with his betrothed, Rhonda, more than 60 years his junior, seems to be respectful and their relationship has never been consummated nor does he seem to be solely interested in her for sexual pleasure. Other than polygamy, he has never been implied to be guilty of sexual improprieties (i.e. adultery, child molestation, incest, etc.) such as those practiced by the fictional Greene and Abbot clans or the real-life LeBaron and Kingston polygamous cults upon whom the Greenes and Abbots are probably based, at least in part.

Grant is president of the United Effort Brotherhood, the business and investment arm of his sect that, mostly under his leadership, is worth many millions of dollars, much of it liquid. Though gambling, alcohol, and other vices prohibited by fundamentalist Mormonism are absolutely forbidden from the compound, Grant, and the other chairmen of the Brotherhood do not have qualms about investing in such ventures, seeing it as a way of enriching the Brotherhood at the expense of sinners. Grant is a man very much concerned with monetary profit but seems more concerned with the power and security of money than by any luxuries, for nothing about his lifestyle seems at all extravagant.