Rulon C. Allred
Rulon Clark Allred (March 29, 1906 – May 10, 1977) was a homeopathic physician and chiropractor in Salt Lake City and the leader of what is now the Apostolic United Brethren, a breakaway sect of polygamous Mormon fundamentalists in Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. He was murdered on the orders of Ervil LeBaron, the head of a rival polygamous sect.
Biography
Having turned away from the polygamous religion of his father and grandfather as a young man, Allred's decision to take plural wives came in his twenties following what he described as a vision; the decision resulted in the estrangement of his first wife (Katherine)- whom LDS Church President Heber J. Grant told to leave her husband—and their three surviving children.
Allred began to assume greater responsibilities in the Short Creek, Arizona polygamous community following the paralytic stroke of its leader, Joseph White Musser. Allred was imprisoned for bigamy following Arizona governor John Howard Pyle's 1953 "Short Creek raid", but resumed his polygamous lifestyle upon his release and during his imprisonment is when he met the LeBaron group through correspondence and eventually fled to Mexico to live on their compound with promises of wealth, yet that was not the case. Allred ultimately assumed leadership of a polygamous group.
In his later years Allred made no attempt to hide his polygamous beliefs and openly spoke of his adherence to the principle of plural marriage on talk shows and in print interviews. Rulon Allred was the husband of at least seven wives and the father of forty-eight children. However, his daughter's biography reveals that after the original seven wives, Rulon was pressured by his peers to be "sealed" to widows and other women requesting to be bound to "their prophet". At the time of his death, he had been sealed to 16 women in total. Though extremely conservative by the standards of outsiders, Allred's sect was far more moderate than the community headed by Rulon and Warren Jeffs and certainly more so than the organization headed by Ervil LeBaron. He was not on good terms with either of the rival sects, and he began receiving death threats from the LeBaron group in the 1960s.
On May 10, 1977, two women, both disguised by wigs and sunglasses, visited his office in Murray, Utah and opened fire on Allred and others present with handguns. The women fled the scene of the crime. Only Allred was injured; he died of his wounds the same day. One of the women was later identified as Rena Chenoweth, a plural wife of Ervil LeBaron. Rena Chenoweth was found not guilty in a 9-3 jury ruling. However, as history unfolds, Ervil was eventually convicted of being associated with more than 5 other murders including that of his own daughter, Rebecca.
Allred's family is the subject of two memoirs written by one of his daughters, Dorothy Allred Solomon: In My Father's House and Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk: Growing Up in Polygamy. Samuel W. Taylor's I Have Six Wives was also based on Allred's life. In addition, Rulon's niece, Irene Spencer, writes of Rulon in her memoir Shattered Dreams: My Life As A Polygamist's Wife. Spencer, now a remarried monogamist, was the second wife of ten to Ervil LeBaron's younger brother and opponent, Verlan LeBaron.
| Preceded by Joseph White Musser |
Apostolic United Brethren 1954–1977 |
Succeeded by Owen Arthur Allred |
References
- Dorothy Allred Solomon. In My Father's House. (Franklin Watts, 1984) This story of assassinated polygamous leader, Dr. Rulon C. Allred reveals the violence, heartbreak and love found inside a polygamous community.
- Dorothy Allred Solomon. Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk: Growing Up in Polygamy. (W.W. Norton, 2003) This WILLA 2004 winner explores life in polygamous fundamentalism; Dorothy, one of 48 children left a life of secrecy and lies to find identity and personal truth.
- Dorothy Allred Solomon. Daughter of the Saints: Growing Up In Polygamy. (W.W. Norton, 2003). This book offers insight into the hidden world and high cost of polygamy.
- Dorothy Allred Solomon. The Sisterhood: Inside the Lives of Mormon Women. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)
External links
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