Winston Blackmore
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Winston Blackmore | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 25, 1956 British Columbia, Canada |
| Occupation | Polygamous church leader |
| Known for | "Canada's best-known avowed polygamist" |
| Spouses | 27 |
| Children | 150 |
| Parents |
|
Winston Blackmore (born August 25, 1956)[1] is the leader of a polygamous Fundamentalist Latter Day Saint religious group in Bountiful, British Columbia, Canada. He is described as "Canada's best-known avowed polygamist".[2] He has 150 children with his 27 "spiritual" wives, some of whom he has admitted were underage.[3][4]
The polygamous community at Bountiful was founded by Blackmore's father, Ray Blackmore, and his older cousin, Harold Wooley Blackmore. Ray later removed Harold and took full control of Bountiful.[4]
Winston Blackmore was born to Ray and Anna Mae Blackmore on August 25, 1956. He was the ninth of her 13 children. Anna Mae was the first of Ray's six wives and the only one he was legally married to.[1]
For two decades, Blackmore was the bishop of the Bountiful, British Columbia group of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church), a polygamist community in the Creston Valley. Upon the death of Rulon Jeffs, Winston Blackmore was considered as one of two potential successors for the role of the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, with the other being Warren Jeffs. Jeffs ultimately succeeded his father, largely due to having played an increasingly significant role in the church during the period preceding Rulon's death. More than half of the Canadian branch members left the FLDS Church to stay with Blackmore as their leader.[5]
In September 2002, Warren Jeffs excommunicated Blackmore;[6][7] however, Blackmore asserts that he left the church of his own accord.[8] The community of Bountiful was split nearly in half—about 400 people followed Blackmore, and the rest followed Jeffs.[7] Blackmore went on to found the Church of Jesus Christ (Original Doctrine) Inc.[9]