Blackmore bucks 'system'
 
By Norma Najacht
Custer County Chronicle
 
Jane Blackmore’s diminutive stature, soft-spoken nature and quiet demeanor belie the steely resolve and iron will that fire the 50-year-old Canadian woman’s resolve to do what she sees fit, regardless of circumstances or what anyone else thinks or does.

When it comes to ensuring the welfare of her children, she clearly epitomizes the U.S. Army’s slogan, "An army of one."

At the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compound in Custer County last Saturday afternoon, Jane stood off several men for approximately two hours while they videoed her, told her she wasn’t wanted and denied her access while she doggedly refused to budge, asking only to see her 26-year-old daughter, Susie, who is married to Ben Johnson, the local compound’s person in charge.

Not until the Custer County Sheriff’s deputy arrived did she allow herself to be led off the compound by her son, Hyrum. Why is Jane considered an "evil influence," as her son-in-law contends, and why is she not allowed to see her daughter and grandsons?

Jane was the first — and only legal — wife of Winston Blackmore. For two decades, Winston was bishop of Bountiful, a polygynous community in Canada closely associated with the twin communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. According to Jane, Winston has 115 children and at one time had 26 wives. She left him in 2004 and divorced him. Her departure gave several other wives the strength to also leave Winston. He now has only 19 or 20 wives, Jane said.

Leaving the FLDS is a complicated, wrenching process that can mean cutting ties with family members for good. Five of Jane’s seven children still live in Bountiful. She took her youngest daughter, Brittany, with her when she left. She has contact with all of her children except Susie.

Jane was born into polygamy. Her father, Damon Oler, was one of the founding fathers of Bountiful. He had six wives and 47 children. According to Jane, with so many children, it was difficult to remember all their names. So children born in a certain year were all given names beginning with the same letter.

In the summer of 2004, Jane and six other women from Bountiful filed a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. Allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse have circulated for years, even before Warren Jeffs, FLDS prophet, appeared on America’s Most Wanted list for just such crimes.

Shortly after Winston married his second wife, a 15-year-old girl, Jane told him she was going to college to become a nurse. Jane was 25 years old with four children.

The jealousy a woman experiences when her husband takes another wife never diminishes, Jane says. "You have to totally disregard your own needs," she explained. "I learned to do that — to focus on my kids, focus on my work and focus on the needs of others."

"And I spent time feeling sorry for myself and unloved and uncared for and all the rest of it."

Jane’s coworkers, who became good friends, never suggested that she leave Winston, but gave her the unconditional support that made her feel she could actually be loved for herself.

The only thing that kept her from leaving sooner was her children, but she knew if she waited any longer it would be more difficult for her youngest daughter.

"I wished so many times that I would have had the courage to take my first six kids and do something like this, but I didn’t and that’s a fact. That’s life," she said.

Winston was very, very good at marrying many young women, she said.

"I want my boys to consider how much responsibility that is. I have lived my life watching different men and their families and how they have cared for their wives and children. And I have absolutely no respect for a man who accepts the responsibility of another wife and has children with her and doesn’t care for or support her and the children."

If she believed in polygamy, she wouldn’t have left, she said.

In the FLDS, men are the head of the household and are very, very gifted in knowing what women should do. "If a man has found favor in the eyes of the prophet, then he’s given a position — and more wives. And women should do what men tell them to do," she said.

"There are many situations where two people are assigned together and are having a difficult time in their marriage. And it is not fun, and it’s not nice and there is physical abuse and sexual abuse and mental abuse. And for the most part, women are not allowed to leave a situation like that."

Women are told they have to change so it stops happening to them, she added. Eventually, if it continues, she is taken from her husband and given to another man. "And then she is just supposed to be over it and go on with life."

As one of several wives, Jane said there were times when she just lived. "I did what I was told," she said."I had the babies and did the dishes and the wash and cooked for all these boys that nobody knew what to do with."

Sometimes that included cooking for 25-30 people, three meals a day, seven days a week.

As a midwife, she witnessed things others never had the chance to see. She was disturbed when she saw young girls getting married so early.

"There was this 15-year-old girl who was married and she became pregnant just very soon after she was married and she was crying and she didn’t want to be married," Jane recalled. She confronted Winston, who was the girl’s stepfather, about watching out for her.

And he said, "Well, mother, I want you to mind your business because you are not the bishop."

After her seventh child, Jane told her doctor she wanted birth control pills because she didn’t want any more children. When he asked if she was allowed to take them, she replied that she didn’t care whether it was allowed or not; she intended to take them.

She didn’t tell Winston about her decision until after their divorce.

Several things about the FLDS still concern her. She believes anyone should be able to worship however they want as long as it is not hurting anyone else, but says that is not the case with the FLDS.

She would like to see the government step in to ensure the rights of the people there. What she would like to see most concerns the education of the children.

A close relative has written a book about her experiences in the FLDS. "She has never moved on from being a victim," Jane said. "A person has to put it behind them and get on with their life."

That, for Jane, does not include leaving her children behind and forgetting about them. She supports herself by working as a midwife to the people of her former community of Bountiful. She plans to seek legal advice about visitation rights to see her grandsons who are in the FLDS compound near Pringle.
 
CusterCountyNews.com
Originally published August 30, 2007
 
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