“Now, I don’t go along with either Joel’s movement or Verlan’s movement or Ervil’s; and now there’s a Floren, another brothren, and he’s trying to start a movement.”
Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr.
(Alma Dayer LeBaron’s second-oldest son) [1]

I mentioned in an earlier blog, at one time, and for a number of years, my grandfather Dayer AND his oldest son/my Uncle Ben BOTH claimed concurrently to be “The one mighty and strong prophet”/ “God’s mouthpiece on earth” come to set the house of God in order and prepare the way for the second coming of Christ” !

But my Uncle Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr., Grandpa Dayer’s second oldest son, was also claiming, as of 1950, to be the greatest man in the world — concurrently with his father Dayer and older brother Ben!

In an essay my Uncle Floren LeBaron wrote Aug. 7, 1998, he stated “Wes” was making claims along this line by 1950 — claims that his father Dayer had given him, Wesley, the “Right of the Firstborn;” i.e., ordained him, in 1950, to the highest office, that of Patriarch and heir to Joseph Smith’s patriarchal keys! [1]

It’s said the nuts don’t fall far from the tree! All the contention, rivalry, changing stories, Royal titles, lies, and lore is enough to drive ME nuts! I’ll let you unravel any rationality to their claims … if you feel a need to score!

I have oral testimonies (recorded in 2002) of my Alzheimeric Mother, Esther LeBaron Spencer, at age 80.5, stating her father “DID” give the “Johnson Mantle” to Joel!

In that oral testimony, Ma also claimed her pa passed it on to Joel just hours before he, Dayer, “passed on.” She claims her pa’s atrophied hands were EVEN placed upon Joel’s head and held there by … was it Floren?

But that’s as credible as believing what “that angel” told Grandfather Dayer — or believing Aunt Lucinda’s illiterate nine-year-old so-called “witnesses” who, says Ma, “were hangin’ around at that time … kept tryin’ to peek in the door to see what was goin’ on”!

However, contrary to Ma’s above testimony, I have the recently-recorded oral testimony of one of those then nine-year-old “wittnesses” of Lucinda’s: He says his grandpa Dayer’s hands were NOT laid on Joel’s head while he was “giving Joel the Johnson mantle”!

But it’s very questionable whether Dayer really did ever pass his “Johnson Mantle” on to his son Joel. There are wittnesses from back then who say Joel wasn’t around during his father’s demise. And Grandma Maud cried, “Joel must be crazy like his brother Ben if he, too, is claiming to be the One Mighty and Strong!”

I’ll wrap up this modern-day LeBaron power debate by saying I’m rehashing stuff I’ve already mentioned in earlier blogs: Namely that this whole above story is different from anything I ever heard during my years in the LeBaron cult — years extending from 1956 to 1967.

Suffice it to say: It’s not my purpose to verify any of this “Who got the Johnson mantle/Who’s got the button?” My purpose is only to state MY “testimony” that their stories changed over the years!

(Cont. in next week’s blog.)

Thanks for visiting. Thanks for your feedback.
See you again in the next blog/block …
my own little corner of the world-wide web.
Have a good day!
Stephany Spencer-LeBaron

[1] https://holyorder.org/2017/08/26/ross-lebaron-interview-to-dale-van-atta-1977/

Continued May 24, 2019: “Pt 34-K: The LeBaron Madmen: Button, Button: Who’s Got the Button?