New NG series: "Polygamy USA."

[lizziesmom]

Did anyone else think the Mr. Cawley wanting to use shipping containers to expand his house was a little "a la Emily and Dna"?? LOL

He is creepy, creepy, creepy. Did you see how wifey numbers 1 and 3 tried to be enthusiastic and number 2 rolled her eyes. She was on board though by the time that segment ended. Maybe what he really wants to do is do a little Shades of Grey with the wives out in the containers.

[emiliawasframed]

Michael creeps me out but I have to give him points for recognizing that his older children need a place to be alone (unlike the Duggars and Bates). I'm from a big family and had a tiny, tiny bedroom carved out of the attic--bed, dresser, small desk, that was it--and didn't mind the size a bit, just loved having a spot to myself.

As soon as I watched the episode, I knew someone would address this issue here! I'm not sure the older ones are put there for personal space. I thought it was implied that they need less looking after and thus could be away from the main house. Maybe I'm being too harsh because I think Michael is terrible, though.

[Morton Fan]

Freethemall: Check out earlier pages in this thread to know about Countessrascal's knowledge of situation.

CR: Thanks for info! so helpful and interesting! I really love this show and have wierd ambivalent feelings about the whole thing although I DO think polygamy should be legal and monitored for abuses. Are there particular genetic diseases that have been more common in CO City, that you know of?

One disease that is caused by inbreeding and is almost exclusively in Colorado City is Fumarase Deficiency (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumarase_deficiency). It is referred to as "Polygamist Down's."

[Morton Fan]

As soon as I watched the episode, I knew someone would address this issue here! I'm not sure the older ones are put there for personal space. I thought it was implied that they need less looking after and thus could be away from the main house. Maybe I'm being too harsh because I think Michael is terrible, though.

He mentioned that the average is three children per room, so I got the impression that he wanted to give the kids more space. Who knows!

[SquirrelySquirrel]

My take was that Michael wanted to free up some bedrooms to move in more wives, and possibly to show the brethren that he could take on more and be creative in how he makes it work financially. He sure was harping on his childhood dream of 7 wives and 50+ children. I wonder what made his current wives suddenly change their minds about the shipping containers. Maybe they realized they had no choice and the damn things are in the their yard so they may as well be positive about it. It's not as if they got any say in the matter. I'm interested to see what they do with them, I guess.

[silverspoons]

He mentioned that the average is three children per room, so I got the impression that he wanted to give the kids more space. Who knows!

With so many kids under 5, 3 kids per room seemed a lot better then the storage containers. Each wife has a baby so it is not like more children were coming within the next 9 months. I also can't see anyone choosing him to be wife #4 or them placing wife #4 with him with his money situation. My husband was out in CP and the ugly containers are still out there. It looked like they had done some work, but they are not livable. I have seen the containers turned in houses on HGTV but they are usually connected to a main structure and are not stand alones. The containers make less sense to me since so many families out there use single wide trailers for more room (there are plenty of used ones that get given from family to family). Also how much would an addition cost. If Michael is worthy, why would the missionaries not help him build an addition? They helped with the footings/foundation and lets be honest, additions done need to "match the house". They would not have to use brick. I know someone recently who built an addition with 4 extra bedrooms(they had multiple and live in SG), nothing fancy, it just was a hallway that came off the back of the house with four 10x12 bedrooms and it cost around 10k. I would think with all the donated labor and the savy way they get extra construction supplies it would cost Michael less.

What is so odd, is there are 4 areas out there, Colorado City, Cane beds Centinial Park and Apple Valley. They share the same school and resources but such different lifestyles(from drug houses to religious). One reason they have to live as close as they do is the access to utilities. My husband's family inherited land up in the area. If you build close to another dwelling you are still looking at close to 25k plus impact fees to get water/electricity. The further you go out the more expensive. Before cell phones, if you wanted a home telephone it would cost in the 6 figures to get a phone line if you were 10 miles outside of an area with service. When housing prices spiked in SG, some developers tried to sell nice houses in apple valley and cane beds and they were triple the lot size of SG and a 2500 sq ft house was 100k less but the developments flopped. The houses were so nice and Ill admit I was tempted but couldn't do it. I have to say the public school El Capitian is better the 90% of the schools in SG.

[freethemall]

Freethemall: Check out earlier pages in this thread to know about Countessrascal's knowledge of situation.

CR: Thanks for info! so helpful and interesting! I really love this show and have wierd ambivalent feelings about the whole thing although I DO think polygamy should be legal and monitored for abuses. Are there particular genetic diseases that have been more common in CO City, that you know of?

Thanks for that, I glanced at one or two previous pages though didn't fully find Countessrascal's connection - sometimes it frustrates me to no end how difficult it can be to find specific info/posts on FJ, everything gets kind of muddled once it's past 3 or more pages, and at that point you have to either read the thread religiously or else be out of the loop.

...But I did find the comment about Rose becoming Ezra's 2nd wife so that his beautician 1st wife could do her eyebrows. YES. Bothers me each time I see them, though the really problematic thing is less about waxing/plucking and more that they're weirdly combed back so that the hair kind of sticks up. Girl needs some tips.

[Dev83]

I am scared to death that the breathern is going to feel called to place RoseMaire with Michael. With all the talk about him wanting more wives, I kept feeling that they might be leading up to that. She is so nice, she deserves a non-creepy guy closer to her age.

[mcchatty]

Michael is Rosemarie's father. I do have two questions- maybe I missed it- are two of Arthur's wives biological sisters? The two that are in CPAC? Does anyone know the "rules" about wedding rings? Becca seems to wear what looks like a wedding set (plain band and a diamond ring on ring finger of left hand) Marlene doesn't and I am not sure about the others.

[lizziesmom]

Michael is Rosemarie's father. I do have two questions- maybe I missed it- are two of Arthur's wives biological sisters? The two that are in CPAC? Does anyone know the "rules" about wedding rings? Becca seems to wear what looks like a wedding set (plain band and a diamond ring on ring finger of left hand) Marlene doesn't and I am not sure about the others.

I'm not sure that Arthur has but two wives and I believe one is 60 and the other is 43. Here is a picture.

[laura oz]

Arthur has three wives, and the third is younger but didn't want to be on the show. I don't think his two wives that are shown are sisters - reminds me of Joe Darger and his family affair.

[Morton Fan]

I am scared to death that the breathern is going to feel called to place RoseMaire with Michael. With all the talk about him wanting more wives, I kept feeling that they might be leading up to that. She is so nice, she deserves a non-creepy guy closer to her age.

I think marrying her off to her own dad might be too weird even for them .... :)

[countressrascal]

How do you know that?

I live up there and know a number of people from the community. I am sorry that I can't tell you more but I can't, against HIPAA

[countressrascal]

I think marrying her off to her own dad might be too weird even for them .... :)

That will not happen, don't even think about it. I love the fact that there was set of Ping Golf Clubs in corner of his office. By the way Brethern that they meet with is Micheal's older brother.

Instead of doing a number of postings regarding this topic I will try to answer some questions:

Arthur has three wives-two are sisters, one of the wives refuses to part of the show. Sisters are the first and third, they are on the show the other is not related however has the majority of the children.

Core group of CP community is from Co City, they split from the community when there were some deaths among the Brethern there, regarding One Man One rule, I don't understand it, so Leroy Johnson's followers were evcited from Co City and they formed the "Second Ward" CP, in the early 80's, more came when Warren Jeffs took over Co City from his father. Prior to that they would visit each others, children went to school together, and things were peaceful. No longer. Plus CP has a group that live in Sandy UT that are little more main stream.

AZ Strip is what everyone calls this area is very interesting we have the FLDS, LDS, hippies, druggies and now the fundies. We are the lone Jews up here. Life is interesting to say the least. By the way it is our choice to live here.

[MorbidAwe]

Woo hoo! Happy to have found some others fascinated by polygamy. I read at SWB, too. I want to know more about the Dargers. The Browns give me heartburn with all of their financial decisions.

What is SWB? I want to read it, too!!!

[laura oz]

What is SWB? I want to read it, too!!!

Sister Wives Blog.

[MorbidAwe]

Sister Wives Blog.

Thanks! I kind of figured that out after reading all fourteen pages of this thread (and LOVING it!)

So many different comments running around my brain, now, I don't even know where to start!

I'm in love with the Thompsons! Marleen and Becca are very pretty. Looking at a couple of Marleen's daughters makes me think that Marleen is probably closely related to Rose Marie. I'm glad at least Marleen got the memo on eyebrow grooming! Sure, there is tension between her and Becca, they've said as much, but there also seems to be genuine liking of each other. Is Becca even old enough to enjoy that glass of red wine with her edamame and steak? They really were beautiful, those steaks!

Papa Cawley, who's photo shows up if you wikepedia the term "creepy", is a petty, sadistic jerk of a husband to his second wife. What a great birthday supper he gave her. He also seems like the type to play favorites. Someone mentioned earlier, IIRC, that he was probably trying to build the container addition to show the council he has room for more wives, ITA. Rose Marie has grown on me. At first I had trouble looking at her, although her features aren't awful, other than her combed up, bushy eyebrows, which is easily fixed. The tilt to her eyes is certainly...unique? On someone else, maybe even beautiful. Now I think she's kind of appealing and she's such a sweet, nice, well-spoken and smart girl. Oh, then there's that whole "I might marry a 70 year old", but, hey, that's her decision, and I can respect that. She DOES have a banging bod, I agree.

Who else LOVES Michael Cawley's artwork? I want a signed lithograph!!!

[MorbidAwe]

More thoughts have run from my brain to the keyboard:

Arthur has a hypnotic voice, makes a lot of sense, and could talk an Eskimo into buying ice. I'm glad he's not my father. I had suspected he had a much younger wife that they weren't showing on the show in an attempt to not offend us, didn't realize it was her choice, thought that was a producer's decision! Ezra is so not ready, yet, and Tiffani reminds me of Bambi caught in a spotlight with a little green dot on her forehead. Run, Bambi, you won't be able to hack it!

HirYum has gotten married. Kellie is a plain, shy little thing, but he seems rather smitten. She seems like the type who will help him groom his brows. Wait a second, he MUST be related to Rose Marie. (I feel like such a meanie, harping on eyebrows like this!) I want to see more of them getting to know each other and adjusting to married life!

Perhaps one of the reasons the girls must consult first with the head council is that they want to check exactly HOW closely related the couple is to each other. I'm sure they have family trees they will be consulting before God gives them a name for Rose Marie (or anyone else, for that matter)! I'm guessing Kellie isn't as closely related to HirYUM as Becca was. I wonder how far things went with Becca and HirYum before they were found out? How long after that was she married to Isaiah?

[mrs]

Check out this Reddit thread:http://www.reddit.com/r/latterdaysaints/comments/1gr04g/i_am_a_member_of_a_fundamentalist_mormon_group/?sort=old

It is an 'Ask Me Anything's in the LDS forum about being a Mormon fundamentalist in CP. MrsThompson1 is the user name of the original poster.(I wonder who that could be ?) Reddit has verified the poster as legit.

[Rachel333]

Good find, thanks! Marleen clarified some things I was confused about, like her background.

Edit: Other things I've found interesting so far: They're getting more LDS converts since the show aired, and they do still believe black people can't have the priesthood.

[Lynn18]

Check out this Reddit thread:http://www.reddit.com/r/latterdaysaints/comments/1gr04g/i_am_a_member_of_a_fundamentalist_mormon_group/?sort=old

It is an 'Ask Me Anything's in the LDS forum about being a Mormon fundamentalist in CP. MrsThompson1 is the user name of the original poster.(I wonder who that could be ?) Reddit has verified the poster as legit.

That AMA was fascinating.

[Feberin]

So she thinks polygamy can be sustained without having some men forced to not have wives since more men die in wars and are in prison than women...

[NotALoserLikeYou]

Thanks for that reddit link! The only thing that I wish someone had asked was how do you respond to the allegations that polygamists are using the system to get an excess of food stamps and welfare since most moms aren't legally married.

[Rachel333]

So she thinks polygamy can be sustained without having some men forced to not have wives since more men die in wars and are in prison than women...

That's true in a lot of societies, but I doubt a lot of CP men are dying in war. Still, I could see it working out if, as she says, most people are monogamous. Since women are more likely to stay religious (and this is true not just in polygamy), there would be a slight shift in the sex ratio. Someone also pointed out that men marrying women from a younger generation could make polygamy sustainable.

[MorbidAwe]

Check out this Reddit thread:http://www.reddit.com/r/latterdaysaints/comments/1gr04g/i_am_a_member_of_a_fundamentalist_mormon_group/?sort=old

It is an 'Ask Me Anything's in the LDS forum about being a Mormon fundamentalist in CP. MrsThompson1 is the user name of the original poster.(I wonder who that could be ?) Reddit has verified the poster as legit.

THANK YOU, Mrs., for the link! Kudos on finding it!! I read every word, very interesting and honest. I really like Maureen, and her family. Wonder who the other 2 people from CP who were answering questions were?