John Ortell Kingston - Controversial Practices

Controversial Practices

Ortell was living plural marriage until his death; he had married at least 13 wives and had dozens of children.

Like Elden Kingston, Ortell believed he came from genetically superior ancestry and that he was a direct literal descendant of Jesus Christ. Ortell had worked on a dairy farm owned by the co-op at Woodscross, Davis County, Utah where he reportedly developed theories on genetics that he later decided could be used to purify his own family pedigree. Using these theories he implemented practices which encouraged intra-family marriages of close relatives, in order perfect his own bloodline. Those marriages, if discovered, would be considered incestuous under Utah consanguinity laws. Connie Rugg, one of Ortell’s daughters, stated "Ortell Kingston experimented (with) inbreeding with his cattle and then he turned to his children."

Ortell also taught child marriage to girls just attaining puberty. Ortell and other members of the Kingston clan, having a "Pure Bloodline", had an advantage over almost any outsider in convincing teenage women, sometimes as young as fourteen, to join their bloodline as part of the polygamous family.