Show notes
Jacob Vidrine tells how authority transferred from Benjamin F Johnson in Nauvoo to Alma Dayer LeBaron and the LeBaron groups. Check out our conversation...
The LeBaron authority line, originating from Benjamin F. Johnson, is like a secret royal charter given directly by the king (Joseph Smith) to a trusted advisor, authorizing him to establish a new subsidiary branch of the kingdom. While other fundamentalist lines (Woolleyites) claim authority based on a later, more public decree (John Taylor's revelation), the LeBaron claim bypasses that decree entirely, asserting that they hold the direct, foundational keys passed down in private, reserved councils from the original founder, allowing them to continue the highest work of the kingdom regardless of later organizational changes.
0:00 Succession Crisis
11:15 End of Council of 50
19:45 Ben Johnson Ordains Grandsons
25:56 Ervil, Joel, Ross, & Dayer LeBaron
37:38 Woolley-ite Split
Don’t miss our other conversations with Jacob: https://gospeltangents.com/people/jacob-vidrine
Copyright © 2025
Gospel Tangents
All Rights Reserved
Except for book reviews, no content may be reproduced without written permission
When most people, particularly those familiar with the history of the Latter-day Saint (LDS) Church, think of Mormon fundamentalism, their minds often drift immediately to groups like the FLDS or the AUB, tracing their origins back to the Lorin Woolley story. These groups represent 80 to 90% of fundamentalists who trace their authority back to the story of John Taylor receiving an 1886 revelation to keep plural marriage alive.
However, the history of fundamentalism is far more complex, encompassing groups like the Kingstons and the LeBarons, who assert a distinct and separate line of authority. The LeBaron family lineage, from which the Church of the Firstborn descends, presents one of the most peculiar and historically rich claims in fundamentalist Mormonism, tracing its authority back to the Nauvoo period of Joseph Smith’s ministry.
The LeBaron name often carries stigma due to Ervil LeBaron, who led the Church of the Lamb of God and was a convicted murderer. This historical exploration focuses on the lineage claimed by the Ross LeBaron line, or "Firstborners," who are not associated with Ervil’s violence.
Roots of LeBaron Authority: Nauvoo Priesthood
To understand the LeBaron claim, one must examine the higher orders of priesthood introduced by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo. This era saw the introduction of new temple rituals, doctrines pertaining to godhood, and work for the dead. Central to this was the concept of the "fullness of the priesthood" or "highest order of the Melchizedek Priesthood," associated with making men and women kings and priests and queens and priestesses.
Joseph Smith taught that this authority derived from keys restored in the Kirtland Temple by Moses, Elias, and Elijah. Statements from the time suggest that those who received this highest authority—such as the second anointing—held the potential to restore the entire church and kingdom, possessing power to officiate in any office from the lowest to the highest. This higher authority was sometimes referred to as patriarchal priesthood.
This higher order was perceived as priesthood above the church. During the trial of Sidney Rigdon, for example, Heber C. Kimball stated that Rigdon, despite being a member of the First Presidency, did not hold the same "higher authority" possessed by more than 30 other men. This higher authority may have referred to members of the Anointed Quorum or the Council of Fifty.
Council of Fifty & Sealing Power
The Council of Fifty, established in the last months before Joseph Smith’s death, was intended to be the political kingdom of God on earth, functioning as a literal government. However, historical sources suggest it was viewed by many, including Lyman Wight and critical "Brewster-ites," as a presiding priesthood body that held authority no church tribunal could control. Brigham Young himself stated that the Council of Fifty would be the "governing and presiding body of this kingdom," defying anyone to draw a dividing line between its spiritual and temporal affairs.
This Council of Fifty was also the setting for Joseph Smith’s "last charge" speech, where he is traditionally recorded as rolling the responsibility of establishing the kingdom onto the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. However, some accounts, including a statement from Brigham Young in the 1845 Council of Fifty minutes, corrected the notion that the charge was solely to the Twelve, asserting that it was a charge to the entire Council of Fifty to "bear off the kingdom to all the world.”
Benjamin F Johnson: The Claim Holder
The LeBaron authority traces directly to a specific member of the Council of Fifty and an intimate friend of Joseph Smith: Benjamin F Johnson.
Johnson was among the men added to the Council of Fifty on March 26, 1844, during a meeting where Joseph Smith "continued his instructions on heavenly matter[s].” Johnson was also the last living original member of the Council of Fifty, a fact he repeatedly emphasized in his later writings. Johnson was taught by Joseph Smith about temple ordinances, plural marriage, endowments, garments, and the second anointing from the beginning.
Crucially, Johnson claimed that Joseph Smith authorized him "to teach this to others when I was led to do so.” In a 1903 letter to the First Presidency, Johnson referred to other things that Joseph taught to us in this council that I am not at liberty to write, emphasizing that Joseph had told him: Benjamin, those things that have been committed to you, you are authorized to commit them to others when you are led to do so by the... Holy Spirit. Johnson was claiming exclusive secret knowledge and independent authority stemming from his temple experience and Joseph Smith's charge.
LeBaron Lineage: Dayer’s Claim
The distinct LeBaron fundamentalist claim arises because Alma Dayer LeBaron Sr. (Dayer), the family patriarch, was Benjamin F. Johnson’s grandson.
Dayer received a patriarchal blessing from Johnson in the mid-1890s when Dayer was about ten years old, which family tradition holds appointed him to be the birthright of Joseph Smith. This connection was bolstered by the family tradition that the LeBarons were spiritually Joseph Smith’s posterity, drawing on the Nauvoo/early Utah concept of leverite marriage where children born after a sealing to Joseph would be considered his eternal seed. The blessing record itself mentioned holding the "birthright in... thy father’s house," using the exact verbiage John Taylor had used for appointing family birthrights in the Nauvoo Temple.
According to the LeBaron family, Johnson charged Dayer near his death (1903–1905) to "carry on the kingdom" and conferred upon him all the priesthood that Johnson had received from Joseph Smith. Dayer spent his life attempting to establish a colony in Mexico and entered plural marriage in the 1920s, which led to his excommunication from the LDS Church.
Dayer was generally secretive about his authority claim, often referred to by his daughter as "The Silent Prophet.” However, antagonist witnesses, such as Margarito Bautista, recalled Dayer speaking of receiving a special authority claim as early as 1910–1913, only five years after Johnson’s death.
LeBaron Succession Crisis: Utah vs. Mexico
Dayer’s secrecy contributed to a succession crisis upon his death around 1951, mirroring the succession crisis that followed Joseph Smith’s death. Dayer had been hesitant to appoint a successor, stating he could not do so unless the Holy Ghost directed him.
The two most prominent sons in the authority claim were Benjamin (Ben), the oldest, and Ross Wesley LeBaron (the second oldest.) Unfortunately, Ben suffered from mental illness after being ordained by his father, claiming to be "the one mighty and strong"8788. Dayer’s reluctance to teach his younger children about his claim was partially linked to Ben’s mental demise.
The crisis culminated with the three primary contenders:
Ben (oldest): Sketchy claims of receiving a blessing on Dayer's deathbed, though sources indicate Dayer was coerced and barely able to communicate due to his failing health.
Joel LeBaron (younger son): Joel started the main "Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times" in Mexico in 1955, but his claim was initially vague, based on Dayer saying the "birthright is yours if I don’t give it to one of the other boys.”
Ross Wesley LeBaron (second oldest): Ross, who primarily lived in Utah, asserted his claim based on a 1950 patriarchal blessing from Dayer that conferred upon him "all the keys rights and authority of the patriarchal order of priesthood" (the keys restored in Kirtland.) Ross was not formally appointed the "successor" or given the "birthright.” Instead, he received a revelation instructing him to ask his father for a commission to carry on the patriarchal work, with the principle that "the honor is in the work, not the title.” Ross subsequently founded his own group, the Church of the Firstborn, in Utah in 1955.
The unique authority claim of the Ross LeBaron line, and the Church of the Firstborn today, rests on this direct, non-Woolley lineage stemming from Joseph Smith’s highest priesthood orders in Nauvoo, passed through Benjamin F. Johnson, and ultimately commissioned to Ross Wesley LeBaron to carry on the patriarchal work of the kingdom.
Don’t miss our other conversations with Jacob: https://gospeltangents.com/people/jacob-vidrine
Copyright © 2025
Gospel Tangents
All Rights Reserved
Except for book reviews, no content may be reproduced without written permission
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
