Polygamists with the most wives
Warren Jeffs
Warren Jeffs is a religious sect leader of the group Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A second trial is under way for Jeffs, who's already facing criminal charges of two counts of sexual assault on a child in Texas.
Texas prosecutors rested their case Wednesday in the sexual assault trial of polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs after playing a key piece of evidence for jurors: an audiotape they allege documents his sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl.
Warren Jeffs is having more than 50 wives.
Yearning for Zion ranch
Warren Jeffs Texas ranch is called the YFZ Ranch, also known as the Yearning for Zion Ranch. It is a 1,700-acre (7 km 2) community which housed as many as 700 people just outside of Eldorado in the center of Schleicher County, between San Angelo and Sonora.
Warren Jeffs + 2007 + 10 years to life
Jeffs gained international notoriety in May 2006 when he was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution on Utah state charges related to his alleged arrangement of illegal marriages between his adult male followers and underage girls. He was arrested in August 2006 in Nevada, and agreed to be taken to Utah for trial. In May and July 2007 the State of Arizona charged him with eight additional counts, including sexual conduct with minors and incest, in two separate cases.
Warren Jeffs + judge overturned 10-year conviction
Warren Jeffs had been sentenced to two consecutive prison terms of five years to life for his conviction on two counts of being an accomplice to rape.The consecutive sentences mean Jeffs will serve at least 10 years. The exact amount of time he serves will be determined by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole in the future.
Rulon Jeffs
Rulon Jeffs
Rulon T. Jeffs, had been the group's prophet for the previous 15 years. He died at the age of 92, leaving an estimated 75 wives. But that is an estimation. But on records, Rulon Jeffs has married 19 women, fathered more than 60 children and became president and prophet of the largest polygamist church in North America.
Rulon Jeffs + FLDS prophet
Rulon Jeffs + insurance sales
The day job of Rulon Jeffs is as insurance sales. Rather than a patriarch, president, prophet for polygamy, he also did insurance of about 70 people and generates $4.8 million in sales.
Colorado City, AZ is the place where his religious base is made.
Saleh al-Sayeri
Saleh al-Sayeri
Saleh al-Sayeri + Sayer tribe
Saleh al-Sayeri is a 64-year-old shepherd-turned-businessman. This Saudi shepherd and tribal leader made international headlines when word spread of his multiple marriages. He is a built man with black mustache and goatee who heads the Sayer, a southern Bedouin tribe.
Saleh al-Sayeri is a 64-year-old shepherd-turned-businessman. This Saudi shepherd and tribal leader made international headlines when word spread of his multiple marriages. He is a built man with black mustache and goatee who heads the Sayer, a southern Bedouin tribe.
Saleh al-Sayeri + 58 wives
In 50 years, Saudi businessman Saleh al-Sayeri, 64, has married 58 women and has forgotten the names of most of them. He knows he has had 10 sons, but ask about daughters and he counts on his fingers: 22. No, no, 28. No, that's too many. He settles on 25. says his marital adventures have cost him more than US$1.6 million in wedding expenses and settlements for divorced wives. But the man who remembers being forced into his first marriage at age 14 says he'd do it a million times over.
Saleh al-Sayeri + "I like to change my fourth wife every year."
Al-Sayeri said that his key to marital bliss is sipping cardamom-flavored coffee after a dinner of spicy lamb and rice. He also said that he likes to change his fourth wife every year.
Saleh al-Sayeri + 14-year-old girl
His marriage with a 14-year-old girl had 10,000 guests in reception and his most sumptuous. He said that she was the perfect age.When he heard about her, he sent his niece to check her out. She came back with a favorable report.
In 50 years, Saudi businessman Saleh al-Sayeri, 64, has married 58 women and has forgotten the names of most of them. He knows he has had 10 sons, but ask about daughters and he counts on his fingers: 22. No, no, 28. No, that's too many. He settles on 25. says his marital adventures have cost him more than US$1.6 million in wedding expenses and settlements for divorced wives. But the man who remembers being forced into his first marriage at age 14 says he'd do it a million times over.
Saleh al-Sayeri + "I like to change my fourth wife every year."
Al-Sayeri said that his key to marital bliss is sipping cardamom-flavored coffee after a dinner of spicy lamb and rice. He also said that he likes to change his fourth wife every year.
Saleh al-Sayeri + 14-year-old girl
His marriage with a 14-year-old girl had 10,000 guests in reception and his most sumptuous. He said that she was the perfect age.When he heard about her, he sent his niece to check her out. She came back with a favorable report.
Ancentus Akuku
Ancentus Akuku
Ancentus Akuku + irresistible charms to women
He is Kenya's most prominent polygamist. He is known by a feisty nickname "Danger" Akuku because women were so attracted by his handsome looks. He has irresistible charms to women. He is also know as man of the 100 wives.
Ancentus Akuku + late 90s
Kenya's Akuku reportedly had fathered more than 200 children and divorced more than 30 wives out of the 100 wives by the time of his death in October 2010 at the age of 94.
He is Kenya's most prominent polygamist. He is known by a feisty nickname "Danger" Akuku because women were so attracted by his handsome looks. He has irresistible charms to women. He is also know as man of the 100 wives.
Ancentus Akuku + late 90s
Kenya's Akuku reportedly had fathered more than 200 children and divorced more than 30 wives out of the 100 wives by the time of his death in October 2010 at the age of 94.
Ancentus Akuku + first married in 1939
Akuku Danger was legendary in Kenya. He married his first wife in 1939 and became polygamist some 70 years ago at the age of 22.
Ancentus Akuku + more than 100 women
He's outlived 12 of his wives, marrying the last one in 1992. There were so many children in his family that Akuku established two elementary schools solely to educate his children, as well as a church for his growing family to attend. While young Kenyans paid their respects to the man with over 100 wives, most said that lifestyle is not possible in today's environment.
Akuku Danger was legendary in Kenya. He married his first wife in 1939 and became polygamist some 70 years ago at the age of 22.
Ancentus Akuku + more than 100 women
He's outlived 12 of his wives, marrying the last one in 1992. There were so many children in his family that Akuku established two elementary schools solely to educate his children, as well as a church for his growing family to attend. While young Kenyans paid their respects to the man with over 100 wives, most said that lifestyle is not possible in today's environment.
Brigham Young
The influential Mormon leader Brigham Young is the founder of the western Salt Lake City, Utah. He had publicly announced that "plural marriage" was a basic tenet of the church.
Brigham Young + 55 wives
Brigham Young was perhaps the most famous polygamist of the early Latter Day Saint movement, marrying a total of 55 wives, 54 of them after becoming a Latter Day Saint. Of his 55 wives, 21 had never been married before; 16 were widows; six were divorced; six had living husbands; and the marital status of six others are unknown. By the time of his death, Young had 57 children by 16 of his wives; 46 of his children reached adulthood.
Brigham Young + Lion House
In 1856, Young built the Lion House to accommodate his sizable family. This building remains a Salt Lake City landmark, together with the Beehive House, another Brigham Young family home.
Morrill Act of 1862 + polygamy
This is the law which criminalized polygamy.
Mormons abandoned polygamy in 1890 + Utah statehood
prompted the church to outlaw it? The "1890 Manifesto", is a statement which officially disavowed the continuing practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
the Manifesto was a response to mounting anti-polygamy pressure from the United States Congress, which by 1890 had dis incorporated the church, escheated its assets to the U.S. federal government, and imprisoned many prominent polygamist Mormons. Utah and other western territories statehood was that a ban on polygamy
Brigham Young was perhaps the most famous polygamist of the early Latter Day Saint movement, marrying a total of 55 wives, 54 of them after becoming a Latter Day Saint. Of his 55 wives, 21 had never been married before; 16 were widows; six were divorced; six had living husbands; and the marital status of six others are unknown. By the time of his death, Young had 57 children by 16 of his wives; 46 of his children reached adulthood.
Brigham Young + Lion House
In 1856, Young built the Lion House to accommodate his sizable family. This building remains a Salt Lake City landmark, together with the Beehive House, another Brigham Young family home.
Morrill Act of 1862 + polygamy
This is the law which criminalized polygamy.
Mormons abandoned polygamy in 1890 + Utah statehood
prompted the church to outlaw it? The "1890 Manifesto", is a statement which officially disavowed the continuing practice of plural marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
the Manifesto was a response to mounting anti-polygamy pressure from the United States Congress, which by 1890 had dis incorporated the church, escheated its assets to the U.S. federal government, and imprisoned many prominent polygamist Mormons. Utah and other western territories statehood was that a ban on polygamy
Joseph Smith Jr.
Joseph Smith Jr.
Joseph Smith denied polygamy
There's still debate over whether the founder of the Mormon Church, also known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints practiced polygamy in the 1800s. But reports of his plural marriages persist.
Joseph Smith + at least 33 wives There's still debate over whether the founder of the Mormon Church, also known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints practiced polygamy in the 1800s. But reports of his plural marriages persist.
Faithful LDS member and historian Todd Compton has found solid documentation for Smith marriages to 33 women while he was alive. True, many more were sealed to him after his death, but Smith had at least 33 wives while he was alive.
Emma Hale Smith
She was the first wife of Joseph Smith Jr. Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was married to Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., until his death in 1844, and was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint and First President of the Relief Society.
Celestial Marriage
It is an other name for polygamy. It is a term used by Mormons to indicate a type of marriage that is designed and destined to last beyond the grave and into the eternities.
Joseph Smith + sealing ceremony
Unlike the majority of Christian religions, which teach that marriage is only an earthly institution, Mormonism maintains that marriage bonds were intended to survive the grave. The survival of the marriage relationship in the afterlife is a necessary condition for exaltation, considered "the greatest of all the gifts of God." Exaltation is a state in which faithful, resurrected LDS become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, thereby receiving the fullness of the glory of God the Father and becoming Gods themselves, who will one day create and populate worlds of their own. This somewhat unorthodox view of marriage was revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith and is recorded in the current edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, section 135.
Joseph Smith + killed by Illinois mob
The fate of Smith is to be killed by a mob. On June 27, 1844, a mob shot and killed Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, after breaking into the prison where he was held on treason charges.