Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Interesting Discovery

If you dig deep enough into anything, you'll find a treasure. So it is with my family history. While growing up, I'd heard tales of polygamist families living in Mexico, but didn't quite connect the dots that my family line would be part of it, until I began seriously researching family names.
In my search, I've asked questions of friends who's family's were also part of the groups that migrated south for freedom to practice plural marriage, but still haven't verified any family names on any records. This is what I'm currently searching and the information I've gathered so far is really quite eye-opening.

In the late 1800's, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who chose to practice plural marriage in the United States were fined up to $500 and imprisoned for up to 2 years. In order for this practice to continue, families migrated north to Canada and south to Mexico to establish settlements or colonies. Land was purchased from the government and the people went to work turning barren land into beautiful, growing communities. Homes were built, crops planted, a church building and schools erected, and a church organization established, all typical of Latter-day Saint communities. Any visitor to these colonies would see order and a welcoming atmosphere. The colonies in Canada were easily established and flourishing after only a few years, while those in Mexico experienced a bit of a rough road with many trials involving bandits and government deception.
It is in one of these colonies in Mexico, that my family line is taled to be: the Jones family. Birth records show them to be in one colony, Oaxaca, but after a devastating flood, families are reported to have joined another colony. Movement from one place to another due to weather and lack of resources make it hard to track who went where. This is where some kind of record or hard evidence is needed, and that's where I'm at in my search.
Note: Plural marriage, or polygamy, was declared to be officially discontinued in 1890.

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